The Taste of Crimson
by Zab Jade
Summary: The Sanzo party comes to an area where vampiric youkai have been feeding on humans. One attacks Gojyo and discovers that halfbreeds are the best prey of all. The others must save him on the one night in fifty years when halfbreeds become full youkai.
1. Chapter 1

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter One**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Author's Note:** This story takes place at some point after episode ten of Gunlock (the Yakumo story), but before the first meeting with Hazel. There will be some small spoilers for the movie. One of the characters does have sexual relations with at least one female of my creation, but no one finds their true love or anything like that in this story. Gojyo is the focus character and sleeping around is something that he does.

**Word Usage Note:** With but a few exceptions, this story will be written without any Japanese. Those exceptions are youkai, kappa, and weapon/attack names. The reason for the first is that demon is a sucky translation. It implies (to me anyway) something that is unquestionably evil with no possibility of being good. For the second word, a kappa is an ugly as hell, partially bald water monster thingy with depressions in its head. The English language does not have a word that specifically means "ugly ass water monster thingy with depressions in its head", and the guys insulting Gojyo by calling him an ugly ass water monster thingy with depressions in its head would be very long and awkward.

* * *

Responding to both his will and a flick of the wrist, the chain of Gojyo's shakujou retracted, the crescent blade sliding home with the clang of metal hitting metal. With a low 'tch' of annoyance, he sent his weapon back to the pocket dimension accessible by all youkai and leaned against Hakuryu's jeep form, pulling a cigarette from his last pack of Hi-Lites.

"Those guys weren't even good enough to count as exercise," he muttered, flipping open his lighter and lighting up. His eyes narrowed slightly as he watched Goku poking through the grass. "What the hell does that dumbass monkey think he's doing?"

"Looking for something?" Hakkai suggested, cheerfully stating the obvious as he got back behind the wheel. Sanzo would want to get moving again soon, though the man in question was at that moment ignoring them all in favor of glaring at his malfunctioning lighter.

"Heh. Maybe his brain fell out and he can't find it?" Gojyo grinned at his own comment, long years of practice allowing him to do so without losing his cigarette. Still watching Goku, he lit Sanzo's Marlboro, the monk's grunt of acknowledgement the closest he'd get to thanks.

The half-breed put his lighter back in his pocket and practically bounded over to Goku, flinging one arm around his shoulders. "Oi, if you aren't careful, you'll step on your brain and squish it."

"Shut up, Gojyo," Goku growled, still scanning the ground. Then, with a triumphant exclamation, he darted away from the redhead and scooped something up. "Found them!"

The boy grinned, waving his prize, the pair of nice sunglasses the lead attacker had been wearing, above his head. "Aren't they cool?"

"Too cool for a monkey," Gojyo said, snatching them from Goku and holding them up high. "Hee hee, jump, monkey boy, jump!"

"Damn it, those are mine!" Goku tried to reach them, cursing the half-breed's superior height.

"I don't see your name on them, stupid monkey," Gojyo taunted, putting the sunglasses on. He pressed one hand against Goku's forehead, keeping him from rushing forward to take them back.

"Stop calling me a monkey, you nasty cockroach!"

Gojyo wrestled Goku to the ground and sat on him, laughing like an idiot while Sanzo and Hakkai watched from the jeep.

"Morons," the monk muttered. "Hakkai, how long until we get to the next town?"

"Only a few more hours, assuming we don't get attacked again."

Sanzo grunted and called out, "If you two idiots don't stop horsing around and get in the damn car, we're going to leave without you!"

"Stupid cockroach, it's your fault Sanzo's mad at us," Goku muttered as the two of them hurried to the jeep and got in the backseat.

"What!? How is it my fault? And don't call me a cockroach, you runtyass monkey!"

"Cockroach, cockroach, cockroach!"

**BANG!**

"SHUT UP!"

Sanzo put his gun away, basking in blessed silence for two whole minutes before Goku wailed, "I'm hungry!"

* * *

They got to the next town without further incident, but it was a quiet, subdued place. It was apparently market day, but people hurried from stall to stall without lingering to talk. Even the haggling was quiet and half-hearted.

"Man, what a sorry excuse for a town," Gojyo muttered in disappointment. He could probably get some decent beer and more smokes, but gambling and female companionship seemed unlikely.

As if that thought had conjured her up, a black-haired woman strode toward Gojyo. Like him, she was wearing sunglasses, though her right eye was also covered by a patch. That entire side of her face was furrowed with deep scars, like something had dug claws into her forehead and ripped downwards.

Despite the horrific markings, Gojyo thought she was reasonably pretty. Her figure was nice, and the unscarred side of her face had a strong beauty. He smiled at her and started to speak when she brushed past him, her shoulder hitting his.

"Sunglasses aren't a good enough disguise by themselves," she murmured. "Be careful."

"Eh?" He watched as she continued on her way, leaving him utterly confused.

"Hey, dumbass!" Sanzo's call from several yards away got his attention. It also startled the townspeople, who began hurrying even more and looking around nervously. "Flirt on your own damn time!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Don't get your panties in a bunch, Master Sanzo," Gojyo drawled mockingly as he caught up with the rest of them.

The only inn in town also served food and alcohol, but the common room was deserted except for the innkeeper and a single female customer. Gojyo instantly focused on her, noting the delicate face, the curvy figure, and the brown hair that cascaded down her back like caramel silk.

She boldly appraised his companions before locking her eyes on him with a hungry look. Gojyo smirked and turned his attention to Hakkai as he inquired about rooms. If they could get four singles, female companionship didn't seem quite so unlikely after all.

Though with his luck, he'd probably end up having to share a room with Goku again. He snorted. _And I bet the midget monkey will end up with his grubby little self in my bed again._ He would never it admit it to Goku, of course, but it had been kind of nice, cuddling together like a couple of puppies at the inn the week before.

_Just like when I was a brat, except Jien always came to bed smelling like-_ That thought was cut off by the woman leaving her table and walking past him. Her hand brushed his, one of her nails scraping against his skin and drawing blood.

Everything went blank for a moment, and she was suddenly leaning against him and whispering in his ear, "I'll be waiting for you tonight."

He blinked as she walked away, the second woman in ten minutes to leave him behind and confused. He shrugged and grinned. At least this one had promised to meet with him later.

"Gojyo?"

"Hm?" The redhead turned back to the others at the sound of Hakkai calling his name.

"There are four singles available."

"Hell yes!" Gojyo's grin widened and he took off the sunglasses. "I'm sick of seeing nothing but sleeping guys."

"I'm sorry, but it appears I was mistaken," the innkeeper suddenly said icily. He was glaring at Gojyo with an expression of absolute disgust and loathing. "We don't have any room for you after all."

Gojyo's good mood instantly evaporated, his hands clenching into fists. _So _that's _what the scarred woman meant. Jeez, she could have been a little more specific. Fuck it, no reason to make the others suffer just because of me._

He smirked at his companions. "Thanks for the lift, you dumbass bastards. Next time you pick up a hitcher, you might want to make sure he isn't something nasty in disgui-"

"Shut up, kappa," Sanzo interrupted. "I don't trust the sanitation in this hellhole. It smells worse than you do."

"Hm." The half-breed closed his eyes briefly and smiled. "Whatever you say, Master Sanzo." Once again, there was a light mocking tone as he addressed the leader of their merry little band.

"Tch. Come on, we're leaving," Sanzo announced, leading the way out of the inn.

As they walked down the disturbingly quiet streets, Gojyo settled the sunglasses on Goku's head. The kid looked up at him in surprise.

"I don't want 'em anymore," he said shortly, shoving his hands in his pockets. He hunched forward slightly, subconsciously tilting his head so he could hide behind the spill of his bangs.

Goku frowned, then pouted. "It's not fair! I'm hungry, and we can't stay at the inn and eat there because the innkeeper could tell that the stupid kappa is a womanizing pervert!"

Gojyo stopped in his tracks at stared at Goku in disbelief. The moron couldn't possibly believe that nonsense. "Wha?! That's not what happened, you dumbass!" he yelled, punching Goku in the head.

"Ow!" Goku cried, jumping away from him. "Then what did happen, red roach?"

Ignoring the insult, Gojyo smirked and put his hands on his hips. A practiced shake of his head sent his scarlet hair tumbling down his back. "I am just too damn hot for my own good. The innkeeper got one look at my gorgeous eyes and had to kick us out to preserve his sense of masculinity." He batted said gorgeous eyes at Goku, ignoring Sanzo's muttered "I think I'm going to be sick".

"Eeew! Perverted kappa, quit flirting with me!"

"Ha! Like I'd really flirt with you! I only like babes, stupid monkey."

"Don't call me a monkey, cockroach!"

"What did you just call me, midget monkey boy?"

WHACK! WHACK!

Sanzo put up his paper fan while Goku and Gojyo clutched their heads in pain. "Hakkai," he said, fishing the gold card from his robes, "feed the monkey and buy some supplies. I'm taking roach boy to the woods to see if he can use those stupid-looking antennae to find a good campsite."

"Grrrr… Damn it, they're not antennae!" Gojyo yelled, shaking his fist at the monk.

"Hurry up, moron. You're making a spectacle of yourself."

"Lousy stinking monk," the redhead muttered. He did have a point though. People were staring, and the ones close enough to see the color of his eyes were looking pretty hostile. He glanced back over his shoulder. "Hakkai, get me some more smokes, will you?"

"Of course."

"Thanks man. See you later."

Once he was out of sight, Hakkai's ever-present smile faltered momentarily. It was firmly back in place as he looked down Goku. "It was kind of you to try to cheer him up."

"It still doesn't make sense to me," the boy said, his voice unusually serious.

"Hm?"

"I think Gojyo's hair and eyes are really pretty. I don't understand why people use that as an excuse to hate him."

"Mm." Hakkai gazed up at the sky, contemplating. "Before the minus wave, this land was barely big enough for both humans and youkai. Now, there just isn't any room left in society or in people's hearts for those who are neither."

"But, Hakkai," Goku protested, "Gojyo isn't neither. He's both."

Hakkai smiled at him again. "I suppose you're right."

"Hakkai…"

"Yes, Goku?"

"…I'm huuungryyyy!"

Hakkai laughed. "Well, then, let's get you fed, shall we?"

* * *

Once she was far enough from town, Reishu took off her black wig and stuffed it into her knapsack. Except for a long, thin braid behind each ear, her bright red hair was shaved close to her head. She closed her eye for a moment, basking in the feel of the late afternoon sun on her scalp.

She sighed and opened her eye, tucking her sunglasses away and readjusting the patch that covered her empty right eye socket. As much as she would have liked to just enjoy the sunshine, she needed to get back before the kid and the brat killed each other.

When she got to the cave her small group was using as a temporary shelter, the kid was nowhere in sight, and the brat had been tied up and gagged. Reishu snorted and set the knapsack down, ignoring the murderous glare turned her way as she rifled through their supplies.

Once their dinner was started, Reishu finally approached the bound girl, looking down at her in disgust. The crimson eyes and the red roots showing through the black dye marked her as another half-breed. It was hard for the older woman to resist the urge to take a knife and hack away all of the dyed hair, leaving the seventeen-year-old girl shorn but no longer playing at being human.

"Where's the kid?" Reishu asked, bending to remove the gag.

"The little bastard tied me up and claimed he was going out to scout around," the girl, Meihan, muttered sullenly.

"What did you say to him this time?" Reishu asked, sitting beside the fire to slowly stir the stew.

Meihan glared at her defiantly. "I called you an ugly, one-eyed bitch."

The older woman just chuckled in response. "I can't argue with that, though I imagine Kishou didn't like it much."

"I don't get what he sees in you."

Reishu remained silent as she added seasoning to the pot. "Stability," she finally said.

Meihan blinked, having almost forgotten her muttered comment. "Huh?"

"He sees stability and something to believe in. The youkai going insane completely turned his world upside down, and then I was there to give him something to hold on to."

After that, it was Meihan's turn to be silent for a few moments. "So you fixed things for him and made my life a living hell," she said bitterly. "I want to go home. Mom's probably worried sick."

"Trust me, if not for the damn comet, I would have gladly left you in your village playing at being human."

"I wasn't playing at being human. I _am_ human!"

Reishu leaped to her feet, her knuckles turning white as she tightly gripped the ladle, and stalked toward the girl. "You. Are. Not. A. Human," she spat out each word like rotten fruit. "You are a half-breed. Get that through your thick skull and get over it!"

"I want to go home!" Meihan repeated, getting to her feet as well. "I don't believe in your stupid comet, and even if it is real, the effects will only last for one night."

"One night," Reishu said, her voice going from angry to soft and deadly, "is all it will take. You are weak. When the Blood Comet turns you into a full youkai, you will go berserk and slaughter all of your oh-so-precious humans. And in the morning, when the effects of the comet wear off, you'll come back to yourself covered in their blood."

The girl backed away from her, fear in her crimson eyes, but Reishu ruthlessly moved forward, keeping the distance between them small. "You make me sick, brat, but you're one of my kind, and I'm not going to let you kill people you care about."

"You should have left her gagged," a voice said from the cave entrance. Reishu relaxed and stepped away from Meihan, turning to watch as Kishou came in and sat next to the fire. He smiled shyly up at the scarred woman. "I'm glad you're back."

"Aww, did the little boy miss his ugly bitch?" Meihan taunted. Kishou surged to his feet, his fists clenched angrily.

"Kishou, sit down!" Reishu ordered. She turned back to Meihan as the boy obeyed. "You, brat, go get water. And if I have to fetch you back here, you'll spend the rest of the trip tied up and carried over my shoulder."

Once the teenager girl was gone, Reishu sighed and sat across from Kishou. "So, kid, find anything interesting while you were scouting?"

He nodded and hugged his knees tightly against his chest. "There's a youkai woman camping at an abandoned farm with a little half-breed girl. I think she's trying to get to the village."

"Is she in control of herself?"

"She seems to be, but I don't know how long it'll last."

"We'll leave the kid with her for now since she's bringing her to the village," Reishu reluctantly decided. "It's hard enough getting supplies for the three of us."

Kishou nodded, a sad, faraway look in his eyes. She knew he was remembering his own youkai mother. She had been a gentle woman until the youkai had started going insane. Then she had killed her human husband. Only Kishou's older brother getting in the way and dying in his stead had kept the boy alive.

It was cruel, but she knew of one way to take his mind off of the past. "I saw another half-breed today too. I don't think he's on his way to the village though."

"He?" Kishou repeated, his eyes narrowing.

"Yeah. He was traveling with some human friends."

"He's an adult." Unhappiness radiated from the boy, but it was better than the earlier sorrow. "Is he good looking?"

"Oh, yeah. Definitely easy on the eyes, that one," she said with a smirk. Then she leaned forward and cupped his chin. "You're fifteen, kid. When you're older, I won't say no to what you want from me, and I won't form any permanent attachments until then, but you can't expect me to stay chaste while waiting for you to grow up. If I get the opportunity to have a roll in the hay with the only adult male half-breed I've seen in five years, I'm going to take it. Understand?"

Kishou sighed. "Yeah. I understand. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. Or him."

Reishu chuckled. "That's fine. As long as you understand, you can dislike what or whoever you want."

* * *

"A-AACHOO!"

Sanzo glared over his shoulder. "You better not be getting a fucking cold. If you get me sick, I swear I'm going to kill you."

"Hee hee, probably just some pretty girl somewhere talking about me," Gojyo said with a cocky grin.

"Keh, whatever," Sanzo muttered, looking around for a possible campsite. He could see what seemed to be an abandoned farm off in the distance. If it really was abandoned and suitable for their needs, they would at least have a roof over their heads for the night.

He veered toward the place, stopping when he realized he didn't hear Gojyo's footsteps behind him. Glancing back over his shoulder, he saw the other man gazing off at the river.

"I think there's a girl over there, getting water. We should say hel- GACK!"

"Dumbass," Sanzo growled, using a solid handful of soft, bright red hair to drag the half-breed along with him. He could have just shot at him, but he hadn't felt like wasting bullets. "She probably has the same high opinion of perverted womanizers as that innkeeper."

Gojyo stopped struggling, and Sanzo let him go. "Yeah, you're probably right," he said quietly, following behind the monk. "We heading for the farm?"

Sanzo grunted in acknowledgement. Gojyo lit a cigarette and studied the farm as they got closer. The buildings were sturdy but unkempt, and the fields were overgrown with weeds. If it was as deserted as it looked, it would be a good place to camp. It wouldn't be too hard for Hakkai and Goku to find, especially considering the monkey's uncanny knack for tracking down the stinking monk.

A few moments later, they reached their destination. The farmhouse was more dilapidated than it had seemed, and in silent agreement, the two of them headed for the barn. It, at least, still seemed to be relatively intact.

"Well, no women or booze, but it's not too bad as a place to stay," Gojyo said, looking around. He sniffed the air. "A little mus-"

"Shut up," Sanzo snapped, pulling his gun.

"Eh?"

"Don't you feel that?" The monk narrowed his eyes, scanning the barn.

Gojyo frowned and held out his hand, calling his weapon into existence. It was faint and didn't feel evil, but he could definitely sense some youkai energy. Hostile youkai energy.

There was an enraged scream and something dropped from the loft, landing on Sanzo and pinning him to the ground. Gojyo swung his shakujou and focused his will into the weapon, both the movement and his thoughts sending the crescent blade flying toward their attacker with a noisy rattle of chain. He felt a pang of guilt as he realized it was a woman.

"Stop!" a high voice shrilled out. A little girl with red hair and eyes jumped between the youkai woman and Gojyo's blade. "Please don't hurt Mommy!"


	2. Chapter 2

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter Two**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Author's Note: **In the manga, it's shown/stated a few times that Dokugakuji had to have sex with his mother to keep her calm so she wouldn't beat Gojyo more than she already did. Very brief mention of that is made in this chapter.

* * *

While Goku contentedly munched his way through a sack of meatbuns, Hakkai bought two cartons of Hi-Lites and one of Marlboros. Gojyo always smoked more than usual when he was upset, and if the innkeeper's attitude was widespread, the boxes in a single carton wouldn't last for long.

The woman running the tobacco stand seemed much livelier than her fellow townsfolk. Hakkai was willing to bet that she'd happily talk to strangers. "Um, please excuse me for asking such an insensitive question, but did something happen here?"

The woman looked startled for a moment, then smiled pleasantly. "Ah, you must not be from around these parts. Another young man was killed yesterday."

"Another?"

The woman nodded. "Ever since the youkai went crazy, something's been preying on the young people in the region. It's more boys than girls, but both are in danger. Whatever's doing it, it calls them out in the night and drains their blood. It's likely youkai doing it, since they've all gone wrong in the head. Some folks think they're just showing their true colors, but I don't believe it. Only going insane would make Lady Menyou leave her half-breeds to fend for themselves."

Hakkai blinked, absorbing the spate of information. He'd definitely been correct about her willingness to talk. "Pardon?"

"You wouldn't know about Lady Menyou, not being from around here. Even most of the outsiders who've heard of her village haven't heard of her. She's a youkai woman who fell in love with a human man about fifteen years ago. They had twins, a boy and a girl. But the year they turned two, there were a lot of floods. The villagers blamed the bad luck on those two little taboo children and killed them and their father while Lady Menyou was out running errands.

"They say she cursed the village and started wandering, picking up unwanted half-breeds as she traveled. She eventually ended up in these parts and set up the Village of Taboo off to the west of here. Used to be that half-breeds were welcome as they trickled through on their way to the village, but once the youkai went nuts…." She trailed sadly with a shrug.

"The townspeople shunned them because of their youkai blood," Hakkai finished for her.

"Yep. Makes me a bit sad. I've always liked the color red."

Hakkai smiled, his eyes briefly squeezing shut. "I've become somewhat fond of it myself lately. Thank you for your time and for telling us what's been going on. We'll try not to intrude too deeply upon the town's grief."

As he and Goku continued with the shopping, his mouth curved into one of his genuine smiles. What he had told the woman hadn't been a lie. It had taken a while, but the color red no longer only reminded him of blood, of all of the lives he had taken, and of the life he hadn't been able to save.

It still brought those things to mind, and probably always would, but it also made him think of more pleasant things. Like the man who had taken him in and saved his life, asking for nothing in return except for a respite from his lonely, boring existence. Or like bright red apples shared with friends.

"Goku, let's get some apples, shall we?"

"Yeah! I love apples!" Goku exclaimed enthusiastically around the meatbun in his mouth. Hakkai chuckled and led the way to the nearest fruit stand.

* * *

"Please don't hurt Mommy!"

"SHIT!" Gojyo snarled, pulling back on the shaft of his weapon. He focused his will into the chain, trying to retract it, but the girl was too close. He'd never be able to stop the forward momentum in time. In a motion too fast for the eye to follow, he spun the shakujou, sending the crescent blade in an arc over the little half-breed girl's head before it slammed into the ground.

"Kyoko!" The youkai woman leaped from Sanzo's prone body and grabbed the child, holding her close. Her eyes widened as she finally got a good look at Gojyo. "You're a child of taboo."

Gojyo couldn't help the automatic flinch at her words. No matter who said it, that particular phrase always hit like a slap to the face. A familiar click caught his attention and dragged him away from his own issues. The monk was on his knees with his gun pointed at the woman.

"Sanzo, don't shoot! She's not berserk; she was just trying to protect her kid." He glanced back at her. "Right?"

"I truly am sorry. I thought you were from the town."

"Tch. Pay more attention before you go attacking people," Sanzo grumped, tucking his gun away.

"Mm. I'll do that," the woman smiled shakily, then released the little girl in her arms. "Mommy is thirsty, Kyoko, would you go up to the loft and get our water?"

The little girl bit her lip and looked at the two men nervously. Gojyo smiled sunnily and waved at her.

"You don't have to worry about us, princess. We wouldn't even think of hurting the mother of such a cute little lady."

Kyoko smiled shyly before darting toward the ladder and scrambling up to the loft.

"Are… are you by any chance from the Village of Taboo?" the woman asked once her daughter was out of hearing range.

"The wha?"

"Village of Taboo," a voice repeated from the entrance.

"Hakkai, Goku, you found us," Gojyo said, grinning over his shoulder at them. "What's this village you're talking about?"

"There is apparently a village to the west of here for unwanted half-breeds," Hakkai explained as he and Goku set down the supplies. He put the bag with the newspaper and Marlboros near Sanzo.

"Not just unwanted ones," the woman said sharply. "I haven't lost my mind yet, but that doesn't mean I won't. Kyoko will be much safer in the Village of Taboo. You really aren't from there?"

"Nope. That's not the kind of place for me. You see, I'm… _very_ wanted," Gojyo purred, his lips quirking up into a slow smirk. He lazily looked her over as she blushed, taking in the trim figure, long blue hair, bright green eyes, and the attractive face with a marking like a green leaf on the right cheek. She was in her thirties, but he had always felt that beautiful women, like fine wine, only improved with age.

WHACK! SLAM!

"Owowowow! Damn it!" Gojyo yelped, clutching his aching head. "What the hell did you do that for, you stupid monkey?" He really should have expected the hit from Sanzo's fan, but Goku kicking him had been _totally_ uncalled for.

"Quit being gross, perverted kappa!"

"Damn it, don't call me that, stupid baby chimp!"

"I'm not a chimp!"

"Oh, so you admit that you're a stupid baby?"

"Shut up, cockroach!"

"He's not a cockroach, you meanie doody head!"

Goku and Gojyo both froze and slowly looked toward the source of the outburst. Kyoko was standing at the foot of the ladder with a water bottle hanging over her shoulder. Her little fists were clenched, and she was pouting furiously.

"Meanie… doody… head?" Goku repeated in disbelief. "I'm not a meanie doody head!"

"You called him a cockroach!" she yelled accusingly.

"He _is _a cockroach! He's got those goofy looking antennae."

"You're a doody head!"

"I am not! Sanzo! Sanzo, tell this little girl that I'm not a doody head!"

"What the hell makes you think I want to get involved in your juvenile arguments?" Sanzo growled through gritted teeth, wondering if it was possible for the vein in his head to burst free and run away. His musings were cut short by the youkai woman's laughter.

"Ah, I'm sorry for their childish behavior," Hakkai said with an apologetic smile.

"It's okay. I haven't seen Kyoko this happy since we left home." She smiled sadly as she watched the six-year-old kick Goku in the shin while Gojyo laughed so hard he started wheezing. She looked back at Hakkai. "I'm Retsuko."

"Cho Hakkai." He smiled and pointed to the little white dragon on his shoulder. "And this is Hakuryu."

"Kyuu!"

"Hakkai, quit flirting and fix dinner," Sanzo ordered testily as he opened up the newspaper. He was hungry and their best cook was acting like he'd been infected by the idiot redhead's raging hormones.

The brunet youkai's face settled into the neutral expression that usually meant he was mildly annoyed. "I was not flirting, Sanzo, merely being polite. I realize the concept is foreign to you, but please do try to remember the difference."

Sanzo grunted and pulled out his reading glasses. "Whatever. Less talking; more cooking."

"Of course, Sanzo," Hakkai said, his usual masking smile firmly in place.

"Food!" Goku broke away from his new verbal sparring partner and danced around Hakkai, his golden eyes shining brightly. "Can I help you cook, Hakkai?"

Hakkai laughed softly, his smile turning genuine as he patted Goku on the head. "All right, but only if you promise not to eat all of the ingredients."

"I promise."

Once they got a small fire going, Gojyo sat near it, debating whether or not his current nicotine craving was bad enough to make going outside worth it. He loved his cigarettes, but that didn't mean he was going to smoke in front of a six-year-old.

He absently scratched his right hand, then frowned and looked at it more closely. What the fuck had he cut himself on? The area around the little scrape was puffy, and it itched like hell.

_Oh, yeah, that's right. The chick from the inn got me with one of her nails. Eew. I guess it's just as well I won't be with her tonight. She looked good, but she must have some serious hygiene issues._

His thoughts were interrupted by a gentle tug on his hair. He glanced over his shoulder, and Kyoko let go, staring at the floor while she mumbled an apology.

"Heh." Gojyo pulled a pink ribbon from his jacket pocket, smiling sadly as he thought of Yakumo and his youkai kids. They had been cute, especially the two little girls who had tackled him and used the pink ribbon to tie his hair into braided pigtails. He handed it to Kyoko and grinned at her. "Just no pigtails, okay?"

"Okay!" Kyoko agreed, her entire face lighting up with childish glee.

Goku glanced over and immediately started laughing at him. "Getting your hair done, huh, Gojyo? You're _so_ lame!"

"Shut up, monkey. It can't be helped. Even little chicks dig the long hair, and I hate to disappoint the ladies." Goku just snickered in response and went back to helping Hakkai.

Retsuko came to sit beside Gojyo and smiled. "Thank you for entertaining Kyoko," she murmured. "She's been bored and unhappy."

"No problem," he said, flashing her his most charming smile. "She's a cute kid."

"I don't think your friend would agree," she said wryly, glancing at Goku.

Gojyo laughed. "Don't worry about him, he'll get over it. Besides, he's a doody head, so who cares what he thinks." He tilted his head back and grinned at the little girl skillfully braiding his hair. "Right, kid?"

"Yeah!" She giggled and nodded enthusiastically.

Retsuko sighed softly. "We'll go our separate ways in the morning, but it's nice to have company for at least one night."

"Mm. It's a shame for a beautiful woman to be all alone at night." His tone was innocent, he wasn't going to obviously hit on the woman with her daughter right behind him, but the look in his eyes was most definitely not.

Retsuko blushed and looked away. "I'll be forty in a few years, you know."

"Doesn't matter." He smirked. Despite her words, he could tell she was interested. "I like making friends with older women."

There was a disgusted snort and the rustle of a newspaper followed by something that sounded suspiciously like "making friends my ass". Gojyo half expected the fan to come out, but Sanzo apparently didn't want to risk drawing Kyoko's attention to the fact that her mother was being seduced. It was a good thing that Goku was absorbed in helping Hakkai. The monkey would have thought nothing of loudly calling him a gross pervert.

Retsuko was still blushing, but she smiled and glanced back at him speculatively before quickly looking away again. "Making friends, huh? I think I would li-"

"Hakkai," Sanzo called, the tone in his voice cutting the youkai woman off in mid word. He had apparently finished his favorite sections of the paper and was frowning at the front page.

"Yes, Sanzo?" Hakkai asked, most of his attention on adding the vegetables Goku had chopped to the soup.

"Did you find out anything else while you were shopping?"

"Ah, yes, actually. There have been several youkai – Goku, please don't eat that – attacks in the region. The victims are young men and women found drained of their blood. We should probably be careful, as we fit the victim profile."

"There are blood drinkers in the area?" Retsuko asked, alarmed.

Kyoko finished her braiding, but instead of going to her mother, she sat in Gojyo's lap, eyes wide as she listened to the scary grown-up talk. The adult half-breed started absently petting her crimson hair.

"No need to worry, ma'am," Hakkai said reassuringly. "They haven't attacked any children, and, unlike Gojyo, they seem to have no interest in anyone over twenty-five."

"She'd definitely be safe if she's one of the blood drinking youkai," Sanzo said, staring at Retsuko with narrowed eyes. He didn't think she was, the only thing she seemed guilty of was seriously bad taste in men, but life had taught him to always be suspicious.

"Mommy doesn't drink blood!" Kyoko protested indignantly. "That's icky!"

"Don't listen to the uncute monk, kiddo," Gojyo advised. "He's just a paranoid jerk."

"The accusation is understandable," Retsuko said calmly. "I'm a forest youkai, not a blood drinker, and if we happen to meet again after tonight, I'll use my powers to catch some dinner and cook for you all."

"You'll cook for us?" Goku's eyes shined with excitement. "Sanzo, can they travel with us? Please, can they, can they? I wanna try her cooking!"

Sanzo twitched. "Moron. Even if I wanted to travel with a woman and a little kid, the jeep only seats four. What the hell do you use the space between your ears for, anyway? Meatbun storage?"

Gojyo snickered. "That would explain _so_ much."

"Shut up, kappa!" Goku scowled at him.

Hakkai chuckled softly and put the finishing touches on dinner as the two of them traded insults. "My, my," he murmured to himself. "Even when we have company, they can't help being childish, can they?"

* * *

The bastards trying to revive Gyumaoh had a lot to answer for, but currently at the top of Gojyo's list was the fact that, because of the damn Minus Wave, it had been way too fucking long since he'd last gotten laid by a youkai woman. Humans were nice, but the scent of a satisfied youkai woman always made him feel like everything was safe and peaceful, even if only for one night.

_Jien always smelled like that when he came to bed from Mom's room_, he thought drowsily. He shivered and snuggled closer to the naked body in his arms, trying to forget the long ago sounds of a creaking bed and his mother's moans. Retsuko had come down from the loft after putting Kyoko to bed, and the two of them had gone to one of the stalls for some privacy.

He sighed softly and reluctantly got up, careful not to wake her. As much as he would love to stay with her all through the night, the feel of her warm skin against his proof that he was at least good enough to sleep with, he desperately needed a cigarette.

He pulled his pants on, automatically checking the pockets for his pack and lighter, and left the stall. Hakkai and Goku were asleep near the barn door, but Sanzo was nowhere in sight. Gojyo assumed he was out smoking. The monk was rarely considerate of other people, but the barn was small and Retsuko and Kyoko had been there first.

He slipped outside and leaned against the barn, fishing a cigarette and his lighter out of his pocket. As he'd thought, Sanzo was there, halfway through a Marlboro. Gojyo grunted in acknowledgement of the other man's presence and lit up.

"I don't care how cold the water is, you're taking a bath in the damn river before we leave in the morning," Sanzo said. "You smell like a whorehouse."

Gojyo took a slow drag from his Hi-Lite, breathing out the smoke with a sigh of pleasure as the nicotine began to work through his system. "Jealous, Sanzo?" he asked with a smirk. "Sorry, man, you may be pretty, but I'm so not into guys."

The banishing gun was instantly out and pointed at him. "You have a death wish, asshole?"

"Not at the moment. You just make it too damn easy to yank your chain."

"Keh. Bastard," Sanzo muttered, putting away his gun. They both knew he wasn't going to use it, so it was pointless to keep it out. He flicked his cigarette butt to the ground and crushed it out with his boot before turning toward the door. "I'm going back to bed."

"Nighty-night, Master Sanzo," Gojyo drawled. "Have pleasant dreams about me."

"Drop dead."

Gojyo laughed softly to himself and gazed up at the stars. He idly wondered if Hakkai had remembered to pick up beer for the cooler. His four favorite things were cigarettes, women, beer, and pissing off Sanzo. Things had started out pretty badly, but now all he needed was a nice cold one to make the night perfect.

That thought was almost immediately contradicted by his hand itching again. "Fuck damn it!" he hissed, scratching furiously. "What the hell did that bitch have on her goddamn nails?"

He gasped and dropped to his knees, his cigarette falling unnoticed to the ground as a burning sensation spread from the scratch like lava in his veins.

"What… the hell?" he gasped out before everything went blank.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter Three**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Author's Note:** The reason I give for Gojyo's ponytail is based on the fact that it's usually (but not always) only seen when he's upset about something (like the night before he leaves the group to go after Kami-sama) or seems to be suffering from depression (like in the flashback to when he found Gono. He'd had the ponytail even before the woman brought up his hair, but his thoughts suggest he'd been in a depressed state for a while). For those not familiar with poker, a tell is a habit, behavior, or physical reaction that gives other players information about your hand.

* * *

Grim, middle-aged humans patrolled the streets of their town, watching closely for anything out of the ordinary. Heniao, the brown-haired woman who had approached Gojyo in the inn, observed them contemptuously from the shadows. They would never catch her with such clumsy tactics.

She removed the necklace that sealed her powers and true form, a black swirling pattern forming on her skin from her right temple to her chin. Energy flowed from her as she used her clan's ability to blend in with the shadows. It was ridiculously easy to get past the humans, but the waste of precious power irritated her, as well as the need to leave town to catch her prey. If he hadn't been such a delicious looking young man, with all of that beautiful blood-colored hair, she would have given up on him and marked someone from the town.

Once she was far enough to not raise suspicion, Heniao used her power to call to the venom she had introduced into his system. She waited for him to come to her, slowly licking her lips as she thought of what she'd do to him. The night would end with his death, she would have to drain him dry to get a decent amount of power, but she had always enjoyed playing with her food before it died.

First, she would use him to satisfy her lust, then she would play with him. She shivered, imagining the sweet sound of his screams as she ripped her claws through him. Perhaps she'd even slice open those lovely scars on his face.

The delightful fantasy was dispelled by the pleasant reality of her half-naked prey appearing before her. Her gaze roamed over him hungrily, lingering on the long legs encased in tight black jeans before lazily moving up to his bare upper body. She reached the blankly staring red eyes and recoiled in disgust.

"A half-breed!" she spat in revulsion, all thoughts of enjoying her meal evaporating. Humans tasted exquisite, but their blood held little energy. Just a mouthful of youkai blood was enough to fully energize one of her clan for a few days, but the taste was nauseatingly bitter. The one time a member of her clan had fed on a half-breed, it had tasted like a youkai with the weak energy of a human.

Heniao unhappily took a step toward him, feeling sick at the thought of what she would have to do. Despite the wretched taste, she would have to feed deeply from him to replenish her strength. She roughly cupped his chin, her fingers digging into his cheeks hard enough to bruise, and tilted his head to the side.

Her fangs slid into him, a slow in and out motion, and he moaned softly as the chemicals in her saliva set his nerves alight with pleasure. Blood welled from the puncture marks, coating her tongue with the nearly orgasmic flavor of human tinted with the barest hint of bitterness. She swallowed greedily, and power only a little less than that of a full youkai rushed through her.

She pulled away, giving herself a moment to consider the possibilities. Killing him would be a waste, but taking him back to her clan would be pointless. He would just be taken from her. There was another option, though. She could use the Shadowed Ways to follow him. If she fed from him regularly, she would eventually gain enough power to challenge her clan leader and take over.

She smiled wickedly and pressed herself against her prey, running her fingers through his hair as she breathed in his scent. He smelled of cigarettes, sex, and faintly of cool spring rain, though it was dry and autumn. She nuzzled his neck, her tongue slowly caressing the bleeding wounds with feather light licks.

Soft, breathy gasps of pleasure escaped him as she sucked and nibbled at his throat. Those soft sounds became a low, drawn out moan as she pierced him again with her fangs. He tilted his head more, allowing her to plunge them deeper within him as he thrust his hips against her.

Her hands roamed his back and sides, her claws leaving red welts along his skin as she pulled him down to the ground. Clothing was an obstacle quickly removed, and in the warm glide of body against body, Heniao claimed her prey.

* * *

The next morning, Hakkai watched Gojyo as they got ready to leave, smiling on the outside while he frowned on the inside. Sanzo and Goku thought Hakkai was the master of masking his feelings, but they didn't know Gojyo as well as he did. They didn't know that the half-breed could fake being loudly cheerful and carefree while slowly dying inside, drowning within his own bitter self-loathing. They didn't know what it meant when he pulled his hair into a high ponytail, leaving the sides and front free so he had something to hide behind.

They didn't know, though Sanzo likely suspected some of it, but Hakkai did. He knew that the ponytail was Gojyo's unconscious tell when he was depressed, like the nervous tic of an amateur gambler with a bad hand. Hakkai also knew that spending the night with a woman made Gojyo feel better about himself. It made him feel wanted and like he couldn't be too horrible if someone beautiful was willing to let him touch her.

Even taking the innkeeper incident into consideration, Gojyo should have been in a good mood, but when they'd all gotten up that morning, his first action had been to absently gather his hair up into a ponytail. That went against everything Hakkai had learned during three years as Gojyo's roommate, and he didn't like it. He also didn't like the round bruises, shaped like fingerprints, on his best friend's jaw and cheeks or the ugly bite marks half hidden behind the unbound portion of his hair.

As they piled into the jeep, Hakkai kept half his attention on Gojyo, listening intently as the redhead aggressively teased Goku in an attempt to distract himself from whatever was bothering him.

_If I can get him alone when we stop for lunch, I might be able to coax him into talking about it._

"Hakkai, stop!"

He slammed on the breaks at Goku's call, the passengers all yelping in surprise as they were unexpectedly flung forward. There was nothing in their path, and he didn't sense any youkai energy beyond the confines of the jeep. There was a small shrine by the side of the dirt road with an old food offering, but surely even Goku wouldn't be interested in that.

"Damn it, Hakkai, don't do that so suddenly!" Sanzo snarled, glaring at him from the passenger seat as he finished beating out the embers on his robe. He had bitten his cigarette in half due to the sudden stop.

"But it would have been rude to ignore his request," he said, flashing Sanzo his brightest smile. He glanced over his shoulder at the two in the backseat. Goku was squirming, and Gojyo was muttering something about stupid monkeys and crazy drivers. "What is it, Goku?"

"I hafta go to the bathroom," he mumbled, his cheeks reddening with embarrassment. He had meant to go before they headed out, but Kyoko had started calling him a doody head again, and he had completely forgotten, even though Sanzo had gone to the trouble of reminding him. Now his bladder felt like it was going to explode.

"Oh for…." Sanzo pulled the paper fan out of his robe and lunged toward the backseat.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

"Ow! Sanzo, why are you hitting me?" Goku wailed, lifting his arms to protect his head.

"I told you to go _before_ we left!" The monk gave him one last whack for good measure, then put the fan away and settled back into his seat. "Keep driving, Hakkai. Maybe Goku will learn to listen if he ends up wetting himself."

"What? No fuckin' way!" Gojyo objected. "I am _not_ sharing the back with a piss-soaked monkey. Let him take a damn leak, it's not like it's going to cost us more than a few minutes."

"I have to agree with Gojyo on this, Sanzo. Hakuryu wouldn't appreciate being urinated on," Hakkai pointed out reproachfully.

"Kyuu!" Hakuryu exclaimed in agreement. His master patted his steering wheel reassuringly.

"Tch. Whatever," Sanzo grudgingly acquiesced.

While Goku clambered out of the jeep and trotted off into the bushes, Hakkai took the opportunity to study their surroundings, half of his attention still focused on picking up any unusual behavior from Gojyo. They were on a nice little dirt road near the river, the rundown shrine with its ancient bowls of noodles and rice the only sign of nearby human habitation.

Goku came back after a short amount of time, but didn't get into the jeep. "I'm hungry. Can we eat something before we get going again?"

"What? No. How the hell can you be hungry?" Sanzo asked in irritation. "We ate twenty minutes ago."

"I don't know. I just am. I'm really starving, Sanzo. Can we eat, please?" Goku whined, staring at him with huge golden eyes.

Sanzo twitched, Goku's twin powers of cuteness and noise beginning to melt away his resistance. Would it really hurt to stop for a bit and let the monkey stuff himself? If he was nice and full, he'd probably curl up into a cute little ball for a nap, and with no one to play with, the kappa would keep his damn mouth shut. It would give Sanzo at least a few hours of blessed silence.

He was about to tell Hakkai to fix a quick meal for Goku when Gojyo reached out and rapped his knuckles against the boy's head.

"Oi, monkey, if you're really hungry, you could always eat that," Gojyo suggested, pointing toward the shrine. Goku's eyes lit up and he raced toward the food. "Wait, Goku, I was kidding! Don't eat that crap, you don't know how long it's been there!"

It was too late. Goku had already devoured half of the rancid food before Gojyo's warning, and the awful taste, registered.

* * *

With a moan like a dying yak, Goku settled onto his bedroll with Gojyo's help, clutching his stomach in agony. It was only late morning, but they were already camped for the day, and Goku was in his sleeping clothes. His normal outfit would have to be thoroughly washed.

"Oi, Goku, you gonna live?" Gojyo asked around a cigarette. His tone was casual, but the look in his eyes betrayed concern and guilt. Goku had seemed okay at first, but after only an hour, he'd gotten violently ill.

They'd set up camp near the river, and Gojyo had half-carried Goku into the water. The bath had been tough on the kid in his condition, but he'd desperately needed it. Surprisingly, Hakkai had helped with the task, even though it hadn't made things any easier for Goku. Normally, his friend let him deal with things on his own when he royally fucked everything up.

Goku moaned again and curled into a ball, briefly looking up at him with dull golden eyes.

_Damn it, this is _not _my fault! I know the monkey isn't exactly a genius, but I didn't think he'd be dumb enough to eat random crap from a shrine at the side of the road,_ Gojyo thought gloomily.

"Oi, moron, you still have cleaning to do!" Sanzo snapped irritably.

With that as his only warning, Gojyo barely dodged the pile of soiled clothing flung at him. "Hey, watch it! Why do I have to clean up after your stupid pet anyway?"

"Because you're the idiot who told him to eat that shit!" Sanzo growled through gritted teeth. His gaze kept trying to wander to his incapacitated young charge, but he refused to let it. He was _not_ attached to the little, empty-headed, bottomless pit of a monkey, damn it!

"Yeah, but I didn't think the little bastard would actually _do_ it." Gojyo muttered in his own defense as he pulled a new cigarette from his pack. He lit it from the still smoldering remains of his previous one, running his hand through the unbound part of his hair as he took a deep drag. From the moment he'd woken up, he hadn't gone more than a minute without a cigarette in his mouth, not even during breakfast.

"That's because you're a moron. Anyone with a half a brain would ha-"

"Sanzo," Hakkai cut in, seemingly appearing out of nowhere and holding a sketch of a plant in front of the monk. "Could you collect a few of these for me? If I make some tea out of it, it would help Goku feel a little bit better. Gojyo needs to wash those clothes before the stains set in, and I should remain near Goku in case he starts feeling worse."

"Keh. Fine, whatever," Sanzo grumbled, snatching the sketch from Hakkai. "I don't want to stick around here too much anyway. Gojyo's idiocy is probably contagious."

"Hey! Why don't you come and say that to my face, you stinking monk?" Gojyo yelled as Sanzo stomped off into the trees.

"Now, now, Gojyo, calm down," Hakkai said, patting him on the shoulder. "Goku's clothes really do need to be cleaned, you know."

Gojyo sighed and scooped up the filthy jeans and shirt, wrinkling his nose at the smell. At least the cape had escaped the mess, giving him one less thing to clean. He waded up to mid-thigh in the river and held the clothes under water, letting the strong current wash away vomit and other less pleasant things.

_Jeez, pukin' and shittin' both at the same time. Poor kid,_ he thought in sympathetic disgust. Luckily, they had been able to get Goku out of the jeep before his guts had decided to violently expel everything he had eaten for the past day and a half. Hakuryu probably would have been traumatized for life if they hadn't.

He swished Goku's traveling outfit around in the water with one hand, the other going up to his neck to rub at the tender bite marks. He didn't remember Retsuko biting him, but she obviously must have at some point. Not that he minded being bitten, quite the opposite, actually, but not remembering bothered him.

_Man, I'm still in my early twenties, and I'm already going fucking senile._ Distracted by his musings, he didn't notice at first as the current tugged the laundry from his hand.

"Shit," he hissed, lunging after the clothing. He caught it, but his cigarette fell into the water. "Damn it."

He pulled out his pack and lighter, trying to hold his smoking paraphernalia and Goku's things without dropping anything. His cigarettes fell into the water and were instantly washed away.

"_Fuck!_" he snarled, flinging the laundry at the bank, where it hit with a wet plop. He angrily trudged into shallower water and sat down, hugging his knees to his chest and pressing his forehead against them. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

He heard Hakkai sloshing toward him, but didn't look up until the other man sat beside him and held out a freshly opened pack of Hi-Lites.

"Thanks, man," he muttered, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. Their shoulders touched as they unconsciously leaned against each other, both offering and accepting support.

"Do you want to tell me what's been bothering you today?" Hakkai asked. His tone was softly inquisitive, with no pressure for an answer.

"Not really." Gojyo shuddered, thinking of the dream he'd had after coming in from smoking the night before.

Hakkai waited patiently. If nothing distracted him, Gojyo would talk, if only because he valued having someone who would actually listen and care about what he said.

The redhead exhaled with a smoke-filled sigh, and Hakkai's patience was rewarded. "Just had a really nasty nightmare, is all," he grudgingly admitted.

Hakkai frowned. That wasn't normal. "After being with Retsuko?" Sex generally kept Gojyo's nightmares at bay.

"Yeah. It wasn't one of my usual ones. Guess that's why the usual stuff didn't keep it away."

"What was it about?"

Gojyo smoked quietly for a while, not answering until he had finished and started another one. "Remember that chick from the inn? Not even sure if you saw her, but she was a real looker with a nice body and hair the color of caramel. Everything's kind of hazy, but in the dream she looked different. I'm not even really sure what the difference was."

He frowned, vaguely recalling some kind of curly mark on her face. "Anyway, in the dream she…." He trailed off, shuddering slightly. Hakkai slipped his arm around his shoulders, which helped a little bit. "She… forced herself on me. I mean, if she had asked, I would've probably said yes, even with the skuzzy nails, but she didn't give a damn about what I would've wanted. She just wanted sex, and I was there for her to use. I guess it wouldn't have really been all that bad, except…."

Hakkai started gently rubbing his back as he shuddered again. "Except?" he prompted softly.

"Sometimes… sometimes in the dream, it wasn't the chick from the inn on top of me," Gojyo whispered, his voice sounding almost like that of a melancholy child. "Sometimes, it was _her_."

Hakkai froze for an instant. "I see," he murmured. Despite his constant sleeping around, there was only one woman who had any real meaning in Gojyo's life.

"She still wouldn't stop crying."

His hair hid them from view, so Hakkai couldn't see the other man's eyes, but he knew how they looked. Gojyo had never cried as a child, and he had never seen him do it as an adult, but those crimson eyes could hold enough sorrow to make others want to weep in his stead.

Hakkai carefully shifted away from Gojyo, but still stayed close. Now that he had talked about it, a distraction would be good. He playfully swatted at the bouncy ponytail and watched it swing.

"Hey, quit it!" Gojyo said indignantly. "Only chicks get to play with the hair. You're probably the closest I'll ever get to having a wife, but you are definitely _not_ a chick!"

"I am nothing like a wife," Hakkai said in mock reproach.

The half-breed grinned at him, his mood greatly improved. "You cook, you clean, and you nag at me. Face it, Hakkai, if we ever went homo, you'd so be the girl," he teased.

Hakkai surged to his feet, splashing water on Gojyo as he did so. He smiled sweetly as the other man yelped and moved to protect his precious cigarettes from the water. "Oh my, I'm very sorry, but it just occurred to me that we really should check on Goku."

"You did that on purpose," Gojyo accused.

"What a rude thing to say!"

Gojyo grumbled and led the way back to camp. Hakkai followed, smiling in satisfaction as the redhead absently reached up and removed the ponytail holder from his hair.

* * *

Sanzo squinted at Hakkai's plant drawing and looked dubiously at the surrounding foliage. He saw nothing that even resembled it. He looked back at the drawing, wondering if it was even a real plant.

Hakkai had been surreptitiously watching slutboy all morning, most likely because of his increased smoking and the stupid, bouncy ponytail that only seemed to show up when the kappa was depressed or upset about something. Sanzo was pretty sure he'd been sent on a wild goose chase so Hakkai would have a chance to talk to Gojyo alone. At least it gave him something to do other than sitting around uselessly while his annoying monkey was sick.

Sanzo's eyes narrowed, and he lowered the sketch to his side as the youkai energy he'd been feeling since leaving camp increased. "Tch. I know you're there, so you might as well come out already!"

"It was foolish of you to wander off without your protectors, Sanzo," a nasal voice said mockingly from the trees. There was a rustle of leaves, and a male youkai was hurtling down at him from a high branch. "That scripture is as good as mine!"

Sanzo twitched and drew his gun. "Protectors?" he growled indignantly. "Those guys are pains in my ass, not protectors. I look after my own damn self!"

He aimed the banishing gun, but before he could pull the trigger, a knife flew through the air and embedded itself in the youkai's skull. There was another rustle of leaves, and a badly scarred half-breed woman jumped down.

Sanzo kept his gun out and ready, but didn't aim at her. If she was planning to attack him, she probably would have done so already. "I could have handled him myself."

She shrugged and retrieved her knife, cleaning it before vanishing it to the youkai pocket dimension. "Most likely, but that wasn't a risk I was willing to take, though I'm usually happy to let humans and youkai kill each other off."

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Then why did you interfere?"

"The only reason I give a damn about your existence is because you're traveling with a half-breed," she said bluntly. "I may be an ugly, scarred up, prejudiced bitch, but I look after my own kind."

"How noble of you," he said dryly. He held up the drawing. "More importantly, though, have you seen any of these?"

The woman gave him an odd look and pointed over his shoulder at an entire patch of the plants. "You mean those over there in plain sight?"

Sanzo ground his teeth and twitched.

* * *

Hakkai had just finished giving Goku a few sips of water when he became aware of someone watching them. He felt no hostile intent, so he waited for Goku to fall into a deep sleep, which didn't take long at all, before turning and studying the trees. There was a hint of red amongst the green.

"You can come down. We won't hurt you," he called.

"Eh?" Gojyo, who was sitting on a large rock and busily lighting yet another cigarette, looked up and followed Hakkai's gaze. He blinked in surprise as a redheaded boy dropped down from the tree and eyed them warily.

"Hello, there," Hakkai said in a friendly tone. There was at least one other person in the tree, but he wasn't going to pressure the boy's companion into coming down. "Who are you?"

"…Kishou," the boy answered, hesitantly taking a step toward them.

"Huh. And here I was starting to think me an' Yanming's kid were the only male half-breeds around," Gojyo commented. Counting the scarred woman, Kyoko, and the kid who'd just shown up, he'd met six half-breeds on their continuing journey west. Four of the six had been female.

_And Houran and Kougyoku both died saving my worthless ass._ He hoped Kyoko and the scarred woman wouldn't follow the trend.

Kishou glanced at Gojyo, his expression shifting to resentment. "Damn, you _are_ good-looking," he muttered.

"Wha?" Gojyo blinked stupidly at Kishou for a few seconds. Then he grinned and approached the boy, flinging an arm casually around his shoulders. "What an excellent taste in men you have! Sorry, kid, I'm not into guys."

Kishou turned beet red. "Th-that's not what I meant!" he wailed. "I'm not into guys either."

"Ahh, I see, it's like that, huh?" Gojyo said sympathetically. "Don't feel too badly about being attracted to me, it happens even to straight guys sometimes. It's because I'm just too damn sexy."

"You're too damn something, all right," Hakkai muttered.

"What was that?" Gojyo growled, shooting a dark glare at the brunet.

Hakkai smiled angelically. "Nothing at all. All the nicotine in your system must be making you hear things."

"Tch. Yeah, right."

The sound of muffled laughter came from the tree, followed shortly by a girl climbing down. Gojyo immediately abandoned Kishou, much to the boy's relief, and bounded over to the girl. He put his hand against the trunk and stood in front of her, forcing her to press back against the tree to avoid touching him.

"Hiii," he said, his voice automatically sliding up into the slightly higher pitch he used when first approaching a woman. "What's your name?"

"M-Meihan," she said, blushing at the attention.

"Really? What a cute name. It's perfect for such a cute girl." He flashed a cheerful smile at her. Then his expression became intense and his voice dropped into a low purr. "You can call me Gojyo. It's a pleasure to meet you, Meihan."

"I…uh…th-thank you. It's been one too. For me. A pleasure. Meeting you, that is. I think," Meihan babbled, her face turning even redder. No one had ever hit on her before. At home, she'd always been the weird girl with the red eyes.

Gojyo laughed. "You're underage, aren't you?" He grinned and moved back a little to give her space. "Maybe we could hook up when you're older. OW! Fuck it!"

He whirled around to glare at Sanzo, the monk's arm still outstretched from flinging his fan at the other man's head.

"Quit sexually harassing people, you perverted freak," Sanzo snapped in annoyance.

Gojyo started to protest being called a freak, but then caught sight of the woman who had followed Sanzo into camp. "You!" he exclaimed, pointing at her. "You're the chick who bumped into me in the street. You could have been a bit less cryptic, you know."

"Hey, it's not my fault if you're more of a blond than your grouchy friend," she said with a wicked grin. There was a weird choking noise from Sanzo that might have been a suppressed laugh.

Gojyo had to process her comment for a moment. "Hey!" he shouted, scowling at her. "I am _not_ dumb, damn it!"

"Uh-huh. You just stay there and look pretty while I help your friends with something," she purred, slowly running her gaze up and down his body, pausing briefly at his face and groin.

"Reishu," Kishou said, coming to stand beside her. He glared at Gojyo in open hostility.

"Hey, kid." She affectionately ruffled his hair. "Why don't you and the brat go on ahead? I'll catch up in a bit."

"No way!" he protested. "I'm not leaving you alone with these people. They're weird!" He shot another glare at Gojyo.

Reishu snorted. "I'm a big girl, Ki. I can look after myself." The boy scowled, but gave in.

Sanzo watched him and the girl leave, then turned to Hakkai and thrust the plants at him. "Here," he said brusquely.

"Ah, thank you, Sanzo. Goku is resting comfortably, by the way."

"Hn. Like I care," Sanzo muttered, quickly suppressing his relief. "Reishu wants to mark a few things on our map."

Hakkai got out his map of the region and spread it out over the rock Gojyo had previously used as a seat. He offered Reishu a marker, and she quickly circled three locations, including a mountain pass and a patch of seemingly empty forest near the pass.

She pointed at the one remaining location, a town about two weeks away. "All four of you will be welcome here. This town has the best doctor in the region, so we've been keeping it safe. Five years ago, the only three adult males from my village died saving several people when half the town went up in flames. The townsfolk have a long memory for that sort of thing, so they would never turn out a half-breed, no matter what the local youkai are doing."

Her finger shifted across the map to tap the pass. "The fastest way west is through here. And the best place to get gear for the trip through the pass is here." She pointed to the patch of forest. "The Village of Taboo. It's warded so only half-breeds can see it from the outside. We've got really good traveling gear, since I have to go out a lot on collection missions. Most of our population is under twelve, so we can't run things like a normal village. That means most of our stores have low prices on the stuff that isn't outright free."

"I see. It's very kind of you to help us," Hakkai said, folding up the newly marked map.

"Like I told Grouchy over there, I look out after my own kind." She glanced over at Gojyo, who was leaning against the tree Kishou and Meihan had been hiding in. "There's no way in hell I'd let you people anywhere near my village if not for him."

"Hn. Nice to see that lugging his perverted ass around has finally come in handy," Sanzo said with a smirk.

"Hey! I can hear you guys, you know!"

Reishu chuckled and started rummaging around in the pouch at her belt. "Even with him, I'm still going to ask for repayment for my help later."

Sanzo's eyes narrowed. "I don't recall ever actually asking for your help," he said in a deadly quiet voice. "You can't expect payment for something you inflicted on us all on your own."

"Don't worry about it. I don't think my request will be turned down, and if it is, I won't push things."

"What's your request?" the monk asked suspiciously. If she wanted him to lecture or do anything else related to his position, they would just go through the mountains with expensive gear. It wasn't like it was his money anyway.

"Don't worry, blondie, it'll have nothing to do with you." She finally found what she wanted in her pouch and tossed a silver hairclip at Gojyo. "Here's something shiny to remember me by, hot stuff."

He caught the hairclip, then almost dropped it. The metal tingled weirdly against his skin. "A limiter?" he asked, confused. The woman had both insulted and complimented him, and now she was flinging limiters at him.

"Have any of you heard of the Blood Comet?"

"That… sounds vaguely familiar," Hakkai said thoughtfully. "Though I can't place where I've heard of it before."

Reishu turned her attention to him. "It passes by once every fifty years. From sunset to sunrise of the twenty-four hours when it's closest to the world, all half-breeds become full youkai." She glanced back at Gojyo. "You'd probably be able to keep yourself under control for the night, but it's hard to tell just what will make a youkai give in to the insanity."

"A full… youkai?" Gojyo said, an odd note of longing in his voice.

"Ah hell, not another one," Reishu muttered, looking at him with rough sympathy. "At least you aren't trying to hide what you are like Meihan. Though I suppose it isn't really possible for a half-breed to look like a youkai."

He tilted his head forward, hiding behind his hair as he stared down at the limiter in his hand. A full youkai…. How many times had he wished for that as a child? That his despised human blood would just go away and let his poor mother forget that he wasn't really her son.

Reishu sighed and looked at Hakkai. "If he starts losing himself on the night of the comet, put the limiter on him. I'm pretty sure he won't do it himself."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of him," Hakkai said resolutely as the scarred woman left their camp. He wouldn't force the limiter on his friend, but he would keep him from hurting anyone.

* * *

In the deep woods, Retsuko ran with Kyoko on her back, the small obstacles, such as sticks, rocks, and slender branches, shifting out of the way to make her passage easier. She focused on her own breathing and the movement of her muscles, trying to ignore the clamoring voices in her head and the smell of the half-human child on her back.

"_Humans are food,"_ the voices whispered to her.

_Kyoko isn't a human,_ Retsuko thought desperately.

"_Half-human is close enough."_

_Humans aren't food._

"_Think of how tasty she would be. Such a delicious little morsel. And then you would be free of her. Free of the burden your worthless husband left you with when he died."_

"Mommy? Mommy, are you okay?"

Rage flooded through Retsuko at the sound of Kyoko's voice. She stopped and flung the child away from her, reveling in her scream as she hit the ground.

"Don't call me that, you horrible little brat!" she snarled, slapping the girl across the face. "I'm not your mommy! I would never have given birth to a filthy abomination like you!"

"M-Mommy?" Kyoko looked up her, close to tears, but not afraid. Retsuko lifted her hand for another strike. She would make the brat fear her. "I'm sorry, Mommy. I don't know what I did, but I didn't mean to be bad."

Retsuko's arm fell to her side as she came back to herself. "Kyoko," she whispered, horrified. She dropped to her knees and pulled the little girl to her. "I'm so sorry, baby. Mommy's sorry. You didn't do anything wrong."

"It's okay, Mommy."

Retsuko sobbed and held her daughter while the voices continued to whisper.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter Four**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Author's Note:** In the manga, Gojyo is shown smoking at a very young age while listening to the noises coming from his mother's room. This chapter was originally going to be longer, but it works better broken into two parts, since the next scene is going to rewind things a bit and show it from someone else's PoV.

* * *

Sanyin glided through the halls of her clan's fortress, basking in the power from killing five humans in one night. It felt so good to finally be able to hunt without the other youkai interfering and protecting the pathetic humans.

The silver-haired shadow youkai frowned, slowing as she felt the faint stirrings of someone coming in through the Shadowed Ways. The only reason to do so, especially at this time of day, was to attempt to enter undetected.

The lower level shadow youkai didn't have the power to feel the disturbance while the high level ones couldn't sense it over their own energy. Only the clan's mid level members, such as Sanyin, would have felt the clandestine entrance, and most of them were out marking the prey they would take in the night. The only reason Sanyin herself wasn't doing the same was due to her good fortune the night before. After draining the two humans she had marked during the day, she had come across three drunken young men out on a youkai hunt.

Her curiosity piqued, she followed the trail of energy, slipping into a small library just as someone rose up from the shadows. Her eyes narrowed when she realized who it was. How had her pathetic little cousin Heniao, who was barely able to kill more than one human a night, gotten enough power to travel the Ways? There was only one possibility, really. Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the thought.

"You've fed from a youkai," she accused, once Heniao had fully come up from the shadows.

"S-Sanyin!" Heniao squeaked, startled. "It-it's not what it seems. I didn't-" She abruptly stopped. Why was she trying to explain herself? She gathered her power, prepared to attack the other woman.

Sanyin laughed in contempt, and Heniao screamed, suddenly finding herself wrapped in bands of shadow.

"Idiot," Sanyin said with a sneer. "You may be overflowing with power right now, but that doesn't mean you can effectively use it. Now, tell me what you fed from."

She believed Heniao's earlier denial. Her cousin was well known for being clever but essentially as dumb as a brick. Carelessly blurting out the truth would have been her first instinct.

Heniao just glared at her. Sanyin sighed and sat gracefully on one of the library's elegant leather couches. "Let's see if I can at least guess what you have planned, shall we? You've found a food source that gives as much energy as a youkai, but has a more palatable flavor. You either killed your prey or left it behind, managing to realize that bringing it back here would be a bad idea. Either way, you have access to more of what you fed on last night, and you came here to recruit some of our lower ranked people."

Sanyin paused and smiled. Heniao's sullen expression proved she was on the right track. "It would be quite foolish for you to try to take over, you know. You aren't cut out for leadership. Being second-in-command, however…. Well, it's most of the perks with less of the responsibility and danger."

Heniao's sullenness vanished, a speculative look filling her eyes. She didn't like it, but Sanyin was right. Being second-in-command to the arrogant bitch would be easier than trying to hold on to the position of clan leader.

"I marked a pretty redhead in one of the human towns," she explained. "He turned out to be a half-breed."

Sanyin stared at her incredulously. "Turned out to be…. How the hell did you not realize that a red-eyed redhead was a half-breed?"

"I didn't know his eyes were red when I marked him," Heniao said defensively. "He was wearing sunglasses."

Sanyin held her head in her hands. "Your stupidity is astounding. A redhead wearing sunglasses in an area where everyone knows the characteristics of a half-breed, and you didn't even suspect he might be one?"

The bound brunette glared at her. "That's not the point. The point is, his blood wasn't the way we've all been told. It was almost as powerful as the blood of a full youkai, and the taste was like a human, with a hint of bitterness. We've been lied to about half-breeds. They're the perfect prey."

Sanyin's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "No…. No, I don't think we were lied to. The distribution of recessive and dominant genes isn't going to be the same for every half-breed. It's likely they each have their own unique taste and level of power. It was just bad luck that the first half-breed ever tasted had an unfortunate gene distribution."

Heniao blinked, completely lost by her cousin's explanation. "What?"

Sanyin sighed and waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it," she said, releasing Heniao from the shadow bonds. "Get some rest for now. Tonight, you'll take me to your half-breed."

* * *

That night, Hakkai sat awake, gazing into the fire. Goku slept near him with Hakuryu cuddled close for comfort. The boy had been able to handle tea and broth for dinner, and Hakkai thought he'd be completely over his bout of food poisoning by morning.

_Maybe I can get Sanzo to take him into the next town for a good meal. He-_

His thoughts were interrupted by a soft sound from the other side of the fire. Gojyo had curled his tall frame into a tight ball and was twitching and whimpering in his sleep. He'd been unnaturally quiet ever since Reishu's visit, spending most of the day sitting and staring at the limiter she had given him. Sanzo had eventually taken it away from him, claiming he didn't trust the half-breed not to lose it. It was the closest the monk would get to admitting that he found the other man's silent brooding unnerving.

Hakkai stood and quietly went over to his friend, sitting by his side.

"Sorry, Mom. Didn' mean ta be bad," the redhead mumbled.

Hakkai winced and gently pressed his hand to the back of Gojyo's neck. Sometimes the simple touch of skin against skin was enough to pull him out of his nightmares. The soft whimpers ceased as Gojyo's body relaxed into a more peaceful sleep.

Hakkai sighed and slid his fingers up into Gojyo's hair, absently combing through the scarlet strands. His own nightmares weren't so easily dispelled, though they had been bothering him less and less often over the past couple of years. Sometimes he thought there really could come a day when his heart would be healed, allowing him to love again.

_She'd have to be a strong woman, though. Someone who could take care of herself. We'd have lots of kids, and live in a big house, with a basement for Gojyo._

He smiled slightly. It was amusing to think of stashing his friend in the basement, but the truth was that he just couldn't imagine life without him. Almost his entire life as Hakkai had been spent either living or traveling with the half-breed. Gojyo defined his existence as much as Kanan had defined Gono's, though in different ways.

He shuddered, remembering when Gojyo had left them to go after Kami-sama. He had tried to suppress it, but he had felt… lost. Like his center of balance had been ripped away, leaving him struggling to remain upright.

_I don't know what I'd do if I had to go through that again. Not really knowing where he was or if he was all right. It-_

His thoughts were once again interrupted by Gojyo. This time, the redhead abruptly sat up and got to his feet.

Hakkai stood as well, frowning at the blank look in his friend's eyes. "Gojyo?"

The other man brushed past him, seemingly not even aware of his presence. Hakkai grabbed his arm, keeping him in place as he struggled to move forward.

"Have to…go," Gojyo said, his voice dull and empty, just like his eyes.

"Go where?" Hakkai asked.

"…calling…hafta go…."

"No, Gojyo," Hakkai said firmly. He heard the faint noises of someone stirring, but he ignored it, completely focused on his friend. "You need to stay here. If you leave, I'll be lonely, Goku won't have a playmate, and Sanzo won't have anyone to smoke with."

"…go…let go…."

WHACK!

"OW! What the fuck did you do that for, you stinking monk?" Gojyo shouted, pressing his hand to his injured head. Then he blinked in confusion as he realized he was standing in the middle of camp with Hakkai clinging to his arm and Sanzo glaring at him. The last thing he remembered was going to bed. "Huh? What the fuck is going on?"

WHACK! WHACK!

"OW! Damn it!"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to sleep with you babbling and trying to run off in the middle of the night?" Sanzo growled in irritation. "Go back to bed and _stay_ there. If you try to wander off again, I'm going to fucking shoot you in the kneecaps."

Hakkai led Gojyo, who was too confused to argue, back to his place by the fire. He glanced over at Sanzo, who was giving him a look that clearly said they needed to talk privately as soon as there was a chance. Hakkai nodded slightly in acknowledgement and settled down beside Gojyo. He would stay with him for the rest of the night, keeping him from going to whoever was calling him.

* * *

Heniao growled in frustration. "He snapped out of the trance. One of his friends probably slapped him or something." Nothing other than death could sever the connection between a shadow youkai and their marked prey, but pain would usually break through the trance state. That was why their bite caused pleasure. It kept the prey pliable and under their control.

"Friends?" Sanyin repeated with a frown. "You didn't tell me he was traveling with others."

"He has three companions, all male," Heniao said dismissively. "A cute teenager, a pretty brunet with a monocle and a weird pet, and a stunning blond with an odd fashion sense. Most people wouldn't wander about in a robe with a scroll across their shoulders."

Sanyin stared at her cousin in alarm and disbelief. "Do you pay attention to _anything_ beyond your own wants and needs? Your half-breed is part of the Sanzo group." She narrowed her eyes, thinking furiously. "We'll go home for now. I need time to plan."

They both sank into the shadows, traveling through the Shadowed Ways back to the fortress.

* * *

Sanzo lit a cigarette and took a deep drag, smiling faintly as he watched Goku excitedly run back and forth from food stall to food stall. Giving him the gold card and telling him to get whatever he wanted had probably been a really bad idea. Oh well, it wasn't his money, and it didn't hurt to spoil the monkey from time to time.

Goku had woken up that morning starving and back to his usual behavior. He had devoured almost all of their food supplies, getting into one of his typical fights with Gojyo over who got what. The kappa had been a little subdued, but more or less normal, for him anyway.

Once he was sure Goku was completely occupied, Sanzo glanced over at Hakkai. The human-turned-youkai hadn't been happy about leaving Gojyo by himself, especially during the early evening, but Sanzo figured it was safe enough until full dark. Just in case, they had left Hakuryu behind as well. The little dragon could bite Gojyo if he zoned out again.

"One of the vampiric youkai got Gojyo somehow," Sanzo said, stating out loud what they both already knew.

"Yes," Hakkai agreed, frowning slightly. "I don't think it was Retsuko, though. She's new to the area, and the attacks on the towns and villages have been going on for a while now."

Sanzo nodded. "It wasn't her. He took a long time to come back in that night. I assumed he was making up for lost smoking time." His voice was heavy with irritation, most of it focused inward. He really should have known better than to make assumptions. It was dangerous and careless.

"Yesterday, he told me about a rather nasty dream involving a woman from the inn. I wondered at the time if maybe it wasn't really a dream and was related somehow to the bite marks on his neck, but then he mentioned details that couldn't have happened in real life."

Sanzo exhaled a stream of smoke, going over what he knew about the various types of youkai. "There are five clans that can convert blood into energy. Four of the five are able to induce a trance-like state and can cloud the memories of their victims. The subconscious is still aware of what happened though, and parts of it can come out in dreams. What was the dream about, anyway?"

Hakkai hesitated for a moment. Well, Gojyo hadn't said _not_ to tell anyone, and there was no reason for Sanzo to hear about the aspects of the dream involving his stepmother. "The woman from the inn forced herself on him sexually."

Sanzo's eyes narrowed. "Hn. That leaves only three possible clans, and of those three, one doesn't get any extra energy from feeding on youkai. There would be no reason to drain humans dry and leave Gojyo alive." He frowned. "Shadow youkai seem most likely, since it's only been young, good-looking people getting killed, but it doesn't make sense for one to go after Gojyo. They don't feed off of other youkai. They'd get more energy from a lot less blood, but youkai taste like crap to them, or something."

"But Gojyo isn't a full youkai," Hakkai pointed out. "Perhaps the addition of human blood alters the flavor without noticeably diminishing the potency."

Sanzo considered the implications of that for a moment. "Shit. If that's the case, Gojyo is pretty much the perfect prey for a shadow youkai. We'll have to keep him from going to her. Maybe I really should just shoot him in the knees."

"That wouldn't be very practical, Sanzo. If you shot him, it would only be fair for you to be the one to carry him around when we go through places Hakuryu can't manage," Hakkai said cheerfully. Then he turned serious again. "If we don't let him go to her, she might come to us. How dangerous are shadow youkai?"

"They turn blood into energy, and the more energy they have, the more of their techniques they can use. And some of those techniques are a serious pain in the ass to deal with," Sanzo said sourly. It wasn't anything they couldn't handle, but it would be annoying.

"Are we going to tell Gojyo about this?" Hakkai asked.

"No. The idiot might try to confront her on his own. We won't tell Goku either, unless absolutely necessary. He couldn't keep a secret even if his life depended on it."

As if summoned by the mention of his name, Goku came back to them, his arms full of bags. "I got food for you guys, an' for Gojyo an' Hakuryu too," he chirped excitedly.

"Hm." Sanzo reached out and briefly laid his hand on Goku's head. He'd never admit it, but it was good to see the little monkey so lively again.

"Hee." Goku beamed at him. "Are we going back to camp now, Sanzo?"

"Yeah." The monk took one last drag from his nearly spent cigarette and tossed it to the ground, crushing out the embers with his boot. "Let's-"

He was cut off by a sudden commotion down the street. A mob was gathering, and he heard people shouting about youkai. He could just barely make out two cloaked figures, one tiny and fully covered, the other adult-sized with the hood thrown back.

Goku frowned and sniffed the air, his eyes widening as he caught a familiar scent. "I smell Retsuko and Kyoko!" He set the bags of food down and raced toward the growing crowd.

"Goku, get back here!" Sanzo yelled uselessly. "Damn it, why the hell do we keep getting caught up in things that aren't any of our business?"

"Come now, Sanzo," Hakkai said cheerfully, "surely a pair of self-respecting young men, such as ourselves, shouldn't pass up an opportunity to rescue a couple of damsels in distress, should we?"

Sanzo sighed. "Let's hurry up and get this over with."

* * *

"Hah! Four of a kind," Gojyo said, laying out four queens and the three of spades. "Beat that, you mangy lizard!"

Hakuryu carefully used his teeth to remove his cards from their holder and laid them out, revealing a straight flush. "Kyuu!"

Gojyo twitched and hung his head. "Damn it, you have the same unnatural luck as your master, don't you?"

"Kyuu! Kyuu!"

He sighed and pushed Hakuryu's winnings, a pile of shrimp chips, over to him. He scratched the dragon's head and glanced down at the four queens. "Well, at least I'm still popular with the ladies."

He shuffled the cards, wondering when the others would be back. They'd once again found a spot near the river, his companions staying only long enough for Sanzo to order him to set up camp before they abandoned him. At least they'd left Hakuryu behind to keep him company.

He sighed again and gazed to the west at the setting sun. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't like the idea of having only the little dragon around once night fell.

"This fuckin' place is getting to me," he muttered, lighting up a cigarette. Life, in his opinion, was a long stretch of pain and loneliness, broken only by fleeting pleasures and people who would always leave.

The only way to deal with it was to laugh or to cry, and he'd only ever allowed himself to do the latter once, when he'd been on the stairs to Kami-sama's palace and had realized that maybe it was okay to cry when something hurt. Even with that realization, he still preferred to laugh in the face of his own pain.

_Damn, I'll be glad when we leave this area. I want to go to a big city where there are bars and women and no one knows a half-breed from a horse's dick._

He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice the arrival of the others until a small, squealing bundle flung herself into his lap.

"Gack! Kyoko?" He blinked and cuddled the girl, frowning at the bruise on her cheek before glancing up at Retsuko and his usual companions. He pushed away his instinctive thought that the youkai woman must have hit the child. "What happened?"

"We went into town to get some supplies, and my hood was knocked back," Retsuko admitted, hanging her head in embarrassment. "The townsfolk didn't take it very well."

"Hey, Retsuko, you're going to cook for us, right?" Goku asked, his eyes shining brightly with anticipation.

"You just ate," Sanzo pointed out incredulously. Even after all these years, the sheer amount of food the monkey could put away still managed to surprise him at times.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Goku asked. "I'm still hungry. Plus, no one else has eaten, and she _did_ promise!"

Retsuko laughed and summoned her weapon, a short hunting spear. "Don't worry, I'll keep my promise." She glanced over at Gojyo. "You'll watch her for me?"

"Sure. No problem," he said, taking one last drag from his cigarette before putting it out. "Want to learn how to play poker, princess?"

"Yeah!" Kyoko exclaimed gleefully.

Gojyo grinned at her, trying to ignore the nagging feeling that it hadn't been the townspeople who had caused the bruise on her pretty little face.

* * *

Retsuko prowled through the woods, her youkai powers allowing her to feel her prey as she tracked it.

"_Your powers aren't limited to forests,"_ the voices whispered. _"You could go back to the town and hunt down the humans who dared raise their hands against you."_

_Shut up!_ Retsuko thought. She picked up her speed, closing in on the deer she was following.

"_They're humans, little better than prey. Go back and kill them all."_

_Shut up!_ She shuddered, remembering how close she had come to giving in to the voices and slaughtering the humans. She would have done it if Goku hadn't shown up when he did. Somehow, he and his friends had managed to get them out of the town without doing more than knocking a few people out.

"_They shouldn't have interfered. Think how wonderful it would have felt to shred their skin with your claws."_

"SHUT UP!" she screamed, throwing her spear. The deer bolted at the sound of her voice, but the spear flew true, killing it almost instantly.

* * *

"I'm stuffed!" Goku declared after his third bowl of venison stew. "That was great, Retsuko!"

The youkai woman smiled. "Thank you, Goku. I'm glad you liked it. Though I wish there was something I could do in return for your help today."

"It's quite all right, Miss Retsuko," Hakkai said pleasantly. "If you don't mind some friendly advice, you might consider wearing a limiter. Kyoko would still need a disguise, but you'd be able to go into towns without anyone realizing you're a youkai."

Retsuko shook her head regretfully and sighed. "I'm not strong enough to protect her while wearing a limiter." She smiled sadly and stroked Kyoko's hair. The little girl was curled against her, drowsy after a big meal. "Her father, though…. He could have taken care of her even with a limiter on."

Gojyo blinked and looked up from the cup of tea Hakkai had insisted he have, rather than drinking a beer in front of Kyoko. "Eh? Wait a minute, wasn't her father a human?"

"Ah, no. You see, my husband wasn't exactly faithful. He had a human mistress. She died in childbirth, and he died a year later. I was the only one left to take care of Kyoko. Most of the time, I forget she's not really my child."

There was the sound of shattering pottery as Gojyo's cup fell to the ground from a suddenly lax grip. "You… forget? How the _fuck_ do you forget something like that?" Gojyo asked harshly. "Her coloring should be a constant reminder!"

"Gojyo," Hakkai said, worried about his friend.

The half-breed abruptly got to his feet. "I'm going to go smoke," he said shortly, leaving the camp.

"Did… did I say something wrong?" Retsuko asked, utterly bewildered.

Hakkai glanced at Sanzo, as if asking for permission to answer her question. The monk shrugged irritably. "Do what you want. He's _your_ friend." He stood up and pulled out his own smoking paraphernalia. He wasn't going to let the idiot redhead fall victim to the shadow youkai again and put them all in danger just because he couldn't get over his damn mommy issues. "I'm going for a smoke, too. Watch the camp, Hakkai."

Hakkai nodded and watched as Sanzo left, turning his attention to Retsuko once the monk was out of sight. "Gojyo was raised by his stepmother as well, but their relationship wasn't as… amicable as the one you have with Kyoko."

"I see," she said quietly. "I didn't mean to upset him."

Hakkai sighed and stared off into the woods. "Don't worry. He rarely lets himself brood on things for long. He'll be fine soon."

* * *

Gojyo sat down at the base of a tree and lit up, his mood improving slightly as the fresh hit of nicotine entered his system. "That damn monk is supposed to be the moody one, not me," he muttered in annoyance. "His PMS must be fucking contagious."

The smell of smoke from a Marlboro told him the monk in question was somewhere nearby, but the lack of bullets shot in his direction implied he wasn't close enough to hear Gojyo muttering to himself. He decided to ignore Sanzo and focus on his own thoughts.

He wondered briefly what it would have been like if his mother had been like Retsuko. Then he wondered if the youkai woman would sleep with him again. He snorted. _Yeah, right. Not fucking likely after making a royal ass of yourself back there, moron._

He blew out a stream of smoke and idly watched it float up into the air. He'd been smoking since he was around Kyoko's age. Maybe it was about time he learned how to make smoke rings.

"Gojyo."

He looked down, yelping in surprise at the pair of bright red eyes staring at him from less than a foot away. "Jeez, kid, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry," she said, still staring at him intently. "What does ami-coble mean?"

"Ami-wha?" Gojyo blinked at her, wondering why she had tracked him down just to get the meaning of a word.

"Mister Hakkai said that you and your mommy weren't ami-coble like me and my mommy are."

"Damn Hakkai, always telling people about my business," he muttered, though he had figured the other man would probably feel compelled to explain his outburst. "Yeah. Heh. Not 'ami-coble' is definitely one way to describe it. Amicable means friendly, kid."

"Did… did your mommy hit you?" she asked solemnly.

"Shit!" he swore harshly as what had been bothering him all night finally clicked into place. Some injuries bruised almost instantly, so she could have already been showing signs of the townspeople attacking her, but Gojyo was well versed in how bruises aged. The one on Kyoko's cheek was at least a day old.

The little girl jerked back slightly, watching him warily. He reached out and ruffled her hair. "Sorry, kid." He narrowed his eyes and studied her critically. "Listen, Kyoko, I'm going to ask you something, and you have to promise to tell me the truth, okay?"

"Okay."

"Has your mom ever hit you before? And I don't mean giving you a swat because you did something you _knew_ you shouldn't have."

The girl shook her head. "She was acting weird, and then I must've done something bad, but I don't know what I did, so I didn't know I shouldn't've done it," she said, misery clear in her voice.

"The Minus Wave, then," Gojyo said with a mix of relief and regret. Retsuko wasn't a child abuser, but succumbing to the Minus Wave wasn't much better. If she went nuts and attacked them…. "You didn't do anything bad, Kyoko. There's something making youkai go crazy, and it's starting to affect your mom. We're on our way west to put a stop to it, but it's going to take a while."

He raised his voice slightly, making sure Sanzo would be able to hear him. "Your mom doesn't want to hurt you, so why don't you come with us to that Village of Taboo place? We'll get you settled there, and your mom will find you once all the youkai are back to normal."

"Really? Mommy will go back to normal?" Hope shimmered in her eyes.

Gojyo took a deep, shuddering breath. It was more likely that Retsuko would end up dead. "Yeah, kid, she'll be normal again. I promise. Why don't you go on back to camp?"

"Okay." She hugged him before dashing back the way she had come.

Gojyo slowly stood up and followed her, pausing for a moment at the tree Sanzo was leaning against.

"Do you really think you should be making decisions that affect everyone like that?" the monk asked.

"You know Hakkai will back me on this one," Gojyo said quietly. "Go with it, or you can fucking walk the rest of the way."

"Hn. Just keep in mind that she'll be your responsibility. Don't come crying to me if she gets killed by the assassins after us."

"Yeah, well, that won't be a problem, even if the worst does happen. I never cry, and if I did, it sure as hell wouldn't be on your unfeeling shoulder."

Gojyo continued on to camp, his longer stride allowing him to come within visual and hearing range just as Kyoko ran to her frantic mother.

"Where have you been?" Retsuko shouted. "I've been worried sick about you!"

Gojyo froze at the sound of her voice. He _knew_ that tone. It was the half-hysterical, half-crazed inflection his mother had sometimes used right before she started in on him. _Shit, shit, shit!_ He ran toward them, hoping he'd make it in time.

"I-I'm sorry, Mommy," Kyoko stuttered nervously. "I just went out into the woods to talk to-"

"Stupid brat! Didn't it occur to you to ask before you left?" Retsuko snarled. "You're a selfish, horrible little creature!"

"Retsuko, what are you doing?" Goku asked in alarm, jumping to his feet.

"Miss Retsuko, stop!"

Retsuko ignored him, raising her hand to deliver a harsh blow to the frightened six-year-old. Goku and Hakkai were too stunned to react, but Gojyo wasn't. He slipped between them, grabbing the youkai woman's arm.

"Don't touch her," he said, his voice deadly quiet. "Don't you fucking touch her."

"Don't hurt Mommy!" Kyoko begged. "You said it's the Minus Wave. It's not her fault she's like this."

Gojyo looked over his shoulder at her, his own voice as a child echoing through his mind. _"It's not her fault. It's mine. If only I didn't exist, she wouldn't be like thi-"_

His grip on Retsuko's arm had loosened, allowing her to break free and summon her weapon. His memories were interrupted by a sharp explosion of pain through his head as she hit him with the spear shaft. He dropped to his knees, dizzy and confused from the sudden blow.

"Filthy, half-human mongrel!" she screamed, using all of her strength to slam the weapon against his head over and over again. "I can't believe I let something like you touch me!"

He didn't do anything to stop her, not even so much as lifting an arm to protect himself from her blows. He heard someone calling his name as he toppled to the side, unable to remain upright. There was a brief respite from the beating, followed by a little girl's pain-filled scream. He thought he heard Goku calling for Kyoko, but everything was fuzzy, and Retsuko was hitting him again.

_They're similar. Maybe letting her kill me will be the same,_ was his final confused thought before he drifted away into the darkness, the sound of a single gunshot following him down.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter Five**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Author's Note:** Houran is from the movie and Kougyoku is the half-breed woman from episode eight of Gunlock. I made earlier mention of them along with Yanming and her half-breed baby. Those two are from episode 24 of the first Saiyuki anime series.

* * *

In the manga version, Gojyo's mother takes an axe to him on the day she tries to kill him, rather than trying to strangle him. I'm going with the manga version, as it has more impact.

Hakkai absently stroked Hakuryu's head, watching Retsuko. An awkward silence had fallen over the camp after his explanation of Gojyo's behavior, and the youkai woman had started fidgeting restlessly, seemingly absorbed in her own uneasy thoughts.

"Hey, where's Kyoko?" Goku suddenly asked, looking up from the crackling fire.

Retsuko glanced at him sharply, a strange, wild gleam in her eyes, before she sprang to her feet. "Kyoko!" she called anxiously, her gaze darting wildly around the area.

"I'm right here, Mommy," the little girl said, running toward them from the trees flanking the left side of the camp.

"Where have you been?" Retsuko shouted hysterically. "I've been worried sick about you!"

Hakkai frowned, troubled by the tone of her voice. The attack in town and her inadvertent prodding of one of Gojyo's sore points had no doubt unsettled her, but she shouldn't take it out on the child by shrieking at her over a relatively minor infraction. He shifted, prepared to step in and calm the woman down if necessary.

"I-I'm sorry, Mommy," Kyoko stuttered nervously. "I just went out into the woods to talk to-"

"Stupid brat! Didn't it occur to you to ask before you left?" Retsuko snarled. "You're a selfish, horrible little creature!"

"Retsuko, what are you doing?" Goku asked in alarm, jumping up.

"Miss Retsuko, stop!" Hakkai yelled, surging to his feet. He had the sickening feeling that she was going to do much more than shout at the girl.

Retsuko ignored them both, raising her hand to strike the frightened six-year-old. Hakkai started toward her, his actions slowed by shock, but then Gojyo was suddenly there, slipping between mother and child and grabbing the woman's arm.

"Don't touch her," he said, his voice filled with the deadly quiet Hakkai had only rarely heard from him. "Don't you fucking touch her."

"Don't hurt Mommy!" Kyoko begged. "You said it's the Minus Wave. It's not her fault she's like this."

Gojyo glanced over his shoulder, and Hakkai froze. The pain in those bright red eyes was like a knife to the heart. Even though the piercing gaze wasn't directed at him, he couldn't look away. That was why he didn't notice Retsuko's actions until it was too late. The spear shaft hit Gojyo's head with a sickening crack, and the half-breed dropped to his knees.

"Filthy, half-human mongrel!" Retsuko screamed, viciously slamming her weapon down on his head over and over again. "I can't believe I let something like you touch me!"

"Gojyo!" Hakkai called franticly, forming a chi ball as Gojyo fell in an unmoving heap. His friend had spent too many years as the helpless victim of an insane woman's wrath to do anything in his own defense.

"Stop it, Mommy!"

The spear shifted, and Kyoko screamed as the shaft hit her with a sweeping blow. The small child was flung through the air, landing in the water with a loud splash.

"Kyoko!" Goku dashed to the river, diving in after the girl.

Retsuko focused on Gojyo again, shrieking raggedly as she took her insane rage out on him. She flipped the spear around, preparing to jab the point into the body at her feet, and Hakkai threw his chi ball, knowing with heart-wrenching certainty that it wouldn't hit in time.

Then there was the sharp crack of a gun firing, and Retsuko fell, a neat hole in the middle of her forehead.

* * *

Goku hugged his knees to his chest, wondering how such an amazing day had ended up going so terribly wrong. He'd woken up feeling great, able to stuff himself without getting sick. Then, when they'd finally gotten to another town, he'd been allowed to buy whatever he wanted, and Sanzo had even patted him on the head.

The townspeople attacking Retsuko had sucked, but then she had cooked for them. The food had been so good, and everything had been wonderful until the stupid kappa got all pissy just because Retsuko was nicer than his mom had been. After that, Sanzo had left camp, and things had felt weird and tense.

He couldn't believe Retsuko had snapped like that. She had been such a good cook. How could she have knocked Kyoko into the river like that? He hugged his knees tighter at that thought. He hadn't been able to find her. She'd been swept away by the strong current before he'd even splashed in after her.

Now they were deeper in the woods, in a cave, and Gojyo wouldn't wake up, even though Hakkai had closed his wounds. Goku stared at the tall redhead in misery. He was lying in the middle of the cave, his head supported by his brown jacket. His face was pale and his breathing harsh and shallow. Every once in a while, he would twitch and whimper, like he was trapped in a nightmare with no hope of escape.

Goku bit his lip, remembering a conversation they'd had at the last inn they'd been able to stay at.

"_Tch. This sucks," Gojyo mutters. "Why do I always have to share a room with the stupid monkey?"_

_Goku lays quietly in the dark, disturbed by the other man's words. They both always complain when forced to share a room, but it's usually just good-natured squabbling. This time, though, Gojyo sounds serious._

"…_Oi, Gojyo, is sharing a room with me really that bad?"_

"_Hn. You snore, and you aren't a woman for me to snuggle against."_

_Goku silently considers this. He's never heard himself snore, so he doesn't know if it's really a problem. And there's nothing he can do about not being a woman. He wonders why Gojyo is so obsessed with women, why he sleeps around so much. But wondering doesn't bring answers, so he asks, "Why do you sleep around so much anyway?"_

"_When I was little, our house was small, so I had to share a bed with my older brother. It made me feel… safe, you know? Anyway, that was a long time ago, but I still don't sleep well unless I'm touching someone else's skin."_

_Goku thinks about that for a while. Then he gets up and crosses to the other side of the room, crawling into bed with Gojyo._

"_Oi, what the hell do you think you're doing?" the other man asks, rising up on his elbows._

"_Shut up and go to sleep, cockroach," Goku murmurs, cuddling against him and draping an arm across his waist. As he drifts off to sleep, he drowsily thinks that this must be what it feels like to be a puppy warmly curled up with a littermate._

"Sanzo, we need more wood and water," Goku said suddenly. The little fire set up near Gojyo wouldn't last through the rest of the night, and they hadn't stocked up much on water before leaving the river.

The monk looked up from cleaning his gun and grunted. "If you want to go get some, go ahead. Just don't go off too far on your own."

Goku hesitated a moment before speaking again. "I was wondering… if maybe you and Hakkai could do it."

Sanzo looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Please?"

"Keh, useless monkey," Sanzo muttered, putting his gun away and standing up. "Come on, Hakkai, we've got work to do."

"Hm?" Hakkai blinked and looked up from Gojyo's comatose form. "What was that, Sanzo?"

Sanzo grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet. "We need more water and firewood."

"But-" Hakkai started to protest, clearly not wanting to leave his best friend's side.

"If that idiot kappa dies, it'll be because he's too weak to live," Sanzo said bluntly, ignoring the brunet youkai's cold, angry glare. "Your presence isn't going to have any impact on that. Water and a well-maintained fire will help him though, especially if he develops a fever."

Hakkai took a deep, calming breath and nodded jerkily. "Yes, you're right about that, Sanzo. Let's go."

Once they were gone, Goku crawled over to Gojyo and snuggled up against him. He didn't know if it would help, but it couldn't hurt. Maybe Gojyo would come back to them if he felt safe.

* * *

_He is a child again. He's on the floor, blood dripping from the twin slashes across his cheek as he watches her raise the axe. At first he's frightened, but then a sense of peace fills him. It's okay for her to kill him, because then she'll stop crying. His death is the only gift he can give her to make her happy._

"_You were going to let that woman kill you," she says accusingly._

_He looks up at her in confusion. Something isn't right. She's supposed to try to kill him, and then Jien will…. He shies away from that thought. It's already different. Maybe this time things will go the way they should have. Maybe this time he will die, and Mother will live._

"_You gave your death to me, it's mine!" she shouts. "How dare you try to give it to that woman!"_

_She starts to bring the axe down. Then she falls, and Jien is the one crying now. He doesn't know what to feel as he looks up at his older brother. Gratitude, resentment, love, hatred, despair, and hope all tangle together inside of him. He's been saved, but now he'll never be able to win her love. He'll never be able to make her happy._

_Then Jien leaves him, and he's alone. Why is he always so alone? Why-_

_He blinks and finds himself on the branch of a sakura tree. He looks down into a pond and can clearly see another sakura tree. A dark-haired man in black leather with his face sits in the branches of the other tree. At first, he thinks the man is his father, but that can't be. This man looks human, except for the bracketed chakra on his forehead._

_He stands up on the branch and looks more intently at the pond and the man within. He suddenly knows that if he falls into the calm water, he'll break something that was never meant to be broken._

_He leans forward, closing his eyes as he falls toward the pond…._

…_He's on the floor, looking up at Mother as she raises the axe. He accepts his coming death while a small voice franticly screams that his death won't be the result of this. He has to stop her before…. She falls to the ground, and Jien cries…._

…_It's the night before Mother tries to kill him. He's in bed, and the terrible creaking and moaning from the next room has finally ceased. Jien slips into bed beside him, smelling like her, and he curls up against his older brother, feeling safe even though Jien has been acting a little weird lately._

_Jien pets his hair and…. He doesn't want to think about this. It never happened…._

_He's in the sakura tree again, looking down at the dark-haired man with his face. He gets to his feet and jumps. Maybe this time he'll hit the water and come out on the other side, where the dark-haired man waits…._

…_He's on the floor, looking up at Mother as she raises the axe. Despair fills him because he knows that it will always be the same. There is nothing he can do to change what will happen next._

_He closes his eyes, not wanting to see her die again. Then a familiar scent that doesn't belong fills the air. He frowns and opens his eyes, watching in disbelief as cute little monkeys fill the room._

_Most of them climb onto Mother, burying her under a pile of soft fur, but one golden-eyed monkey comes to him. He clings to the tiny animal like a lifeline, breathing in the scent of the little brother of his soul, who will always love him, no matter what, because the monkey loves everyone, even worthless, pathetic little mutts like him._

* * *

Gojyo moaned in pain as he slowly opened his eyes. His head felt like Hakuryu had run over it a few times in jeep form.

"Fuck," he croaked hoarsely. What the hell had happened?

The warm weight curled against him shifted, and Goku was suddenly in his face, his golden eyes bright with relief. "Gojyo, you're awake!"

Gojyo blinked up at Goku in confusion, trying to figure out why he was lying under the monkey with a splitting headache. The first thought to pop into his battered head was unlikely, but he blurted it out anyway. "Please tell me you didn't get me drunk and try to have your way with me."

Goku stared at him in horror, his nose wrinkling in disgust at the thought. "EEEEEEEEWWW! You perverted jackass, don't say things like that! I've been really worried about you!"

Gojyo winced at the volume. "Heh. Sorry, kid. Not so loud, okay?" His memories of what had happened with Retsuko slowly swam back to the surface. He closed his eyes as he remembered the gunshot he'd heard right before passing out. "Sanzo shot her, didn't he?"

"He saved your life, you know," Goku pointed out quietly.

Gojyo sighed heavily and opened his eyes. "Why are people always killing beautiful women to save my worthless hide?" he muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing." He slowly sat up as Goku got off of him and looked around. They were in a cave with no one else in sight. "Where's Kyoko?"

Goku hugged his knees to his chest and looked down. "Retsuko knocked her into the river."

"Sanzo and Hakkai have taken her to a doctor, right?" he demanded. He didn't like Goku's tone and posture. Either Kyoko was seriously injured or….

_No!_ he thought harshly. _She's not dead, damn it. I got between them to save her. If she's dead then it's my fault for being too much of a fucking pussy-whipped asshole to even put up a fight against someone else's crazy stepmom._

Sorrow-filled eyes rose to meet his. "I couldn't find her, Gojyo. I looked and looked, but I couldn't find her!"

"Shit," he said softly. He reached out to ruffle the monkey's hair, knowing that the kid was blaming himself. "It's not your fault, Goku." _It's mine. Just like every other shitty thing that's happened in my life._ "She tried to stop her mom, didn't she?"

Goku looked away and didn't say anything, which was answer enough. Gojyo closed his eyes again, thinking of all of the women who had died so that he would live.

_Mom, Houran, Kougyoku, and now Retsuko and Kyoko. I guess Houran died for all of us, but she was put into that situation because she couldn't bring herself to kill a fellow child of taboo. _

Without really realizing what he was doing, he reached into his pocket for a ponytail holder and started combing his fingers through his hair. His eyes snapped open, and he jerked his hands away from his head in disgust at the feel of matted blood.

"Eeew…. Damn it, I need a shower," he grumbled. He also needed a cigarette, which was easily obtained. He pulled one out of the nearly full pack in his pocket and lit it. He needed to think of something to distract both himself and the monkey. "So, why exactly were you lying on me, anyway?"

Goku looked at him, relieved by the change of topic. "Hakkai closed your wounds, but you wouldn't wake up, an' you kept twitching and making noises like you were having really bad dreams. I remembered what you told me about sleeping with other people touching you, so I thought maybe it would help if I curled up against you. I even got Sanzo and Hakkai to go after wood and water, 'cause I didn't think you'd like it if they saw me do it."

"Nn." Gojyo sucked in a lungful of smoke, holding it a moment before blowing it out in a thin stream. Then he flashed Goku a lopsided grin. "Thanks, little monkey. Remind me to get you a banana the next time we get to a town I can actually go in."

Goku scowled. "Don't call me a monkey, you stupid kappa!" He tilted his head thoughtfully. "I do want the banana though."

Gojyo laughed, sending a spike of increased pain through his head. "Ow, shit, don't make me laugh, chimp, it hurts."

Goku leaned toward him suddenly and hugged him. "I'm really glad you woke up, Gojyo."

The redhead snorted and ruffled his hair affectionately. "Stupid monkey."

* * *

Kougaiji looked up into the branches of a tree and sighed in exasperation. One of the long-distance dragons had been tied to the trunk, and his little sister was curled up on a branch, sound asleep. She had run off shortly after her bedtime, thinking no one would notice she was missing so late at night.

"What did I do to deserve this," he muttered to himself.

Dokugakuji chuckled. "Little siblings are a handful, aren't they?" he said with a bittersweet smile as he thought of his own younger sibling. "They're worth the trouble they cause, though."

"Yeah," Kougaiji agreed, smiling up the sleeping girl. "Though I bet you never had to pull yours out of a tree in the middle of the night."

The swordsman grinned. "That's what you think. One night, Gojyo got a hold of enough sugar to kill a small animal and ran off into the woods naked. By the time I found him, he was up in a tree, pretending to be a monkey."

The dragon whimpered pathetically, catching their attention. Kougaiji frowned at the animal. "Could you take him to the river for some water while Yaone and I get Lirin down?"

"Sure thing, Kou," the other man responded, untying the dragon.

He led the thirsty animal through a tangle of bushes, stopping abruptly when he got a good look at the water. The moon was full and bright, clearly illuminating the lazy patch of river. A log slowly floated by, a small, red-haired child clinging to it weakly.

Dokugaku dropped the dragon's lead rope and rushed into the water. The little girl looked up at the sound of splashing, and he was confronted with the achingly familiar sight of despondent red eyes staring at him from a child's battered face. Then those eyes slid shut as she lost her grip and sank away into the water.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter Six**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Author's Note:** The scene with Gojyo's powers is something I've had written out and planned since early August. In the Shunrei story, the manga and anime version conflict slightly in one scene. In this case, I'm going with the anime (watches as all of her Author's Note readers drop dead from shock). In the anime, Hakkai grabs Gojyo's shoulder while he's having a flashback of his mother, and Gojyo snarls "Don't touch me!" at him. I also go with the anime in the Shunrei story in regards to the color of Gojyo's pubic hair (he implies it's red while in the manga, Goku claims it's black. Red appeals more to my sense of aesthetics), but that really has nothing to do with this chapter at all.

* * *

Dokugaku watched anxiously as Yaone treated the little girl's injuries. The instant they'd seen him with the soaked, unconscious child, Yaone had grabbed her medical supplies and Kougaiji had started a fire.

He often wondered how he, who had murdered his own mentally ill mother before abandoning a traumatized child, had ended up with such kind, caring people. He hated working for Gyokumen Koushu, hated what her revival attempts were doing to most of the youkai, and hated the fact that being her on side made him an enemy to his own little brother. Despite all of that, though, he wouldn't change anything about his life if it meant having different companions. Kougaiji, Yaone, and Lirin were as much his family as Gojyo.

Lirin's voice suddenly broke him out of his musings. "Hey, Yaone, is she gonna be okay?" she asked, crouching beside the younger girl and peering at her intently.

"I believe so, Lady Lirin," the healer replied distractedly as she worked on her small patient. She had been stripped out of her wet clothes and bundled in the warm blanket Yaone kept with her other supplies. "She has cracked ribs and multiple bruises, most of them likely sustained from hitting rocks and other debris in the river. If she was human, I don't think she would have survived."

Lirin blinked and looked at the child's round ears. Then she gently lifted a lock of blood-red hair and glanced at Dokugaku. "Is she a halfie like your brother, Doku?"

"Yep, and half-breeds are tough little brats, so she'll be fine," the swordsman said, ruffling Lirin's hair. The words were meant to reassure himself as much as the youkai girl. Half-breeds were tough like he'd said, and she'd probably heal, but he didn't know if she'd be fine. At least one of the bruises, the one on her cheek, was older than the rest of her injuries and had been made by an adult's hand. He had seen enough bruises like that on another cute little redhead to recognize them.

"Hee…." Lirin grinned up at him, then looked over at Kougaiji. "Can we keep her, big brother? She's a lot more littler than me, so I'd get to boss her around an' take care of her an' stuff!"

The youkai prince frowned, coming over to them with a cup of the medicated tea Yaone had asked him to brew. "I don't think it would be a good idea to take her back to Houtou Castle, Lirin."

"Awww…." Lirin's shoulder's slumped with dejection.

Yaone took the cup of tea from Kougaiji with a murmured "thank you" and lifted her patient up into a half-sitting position. She tipped small amounts of tea into the unconscious child's mouth, careful to keep each portion small enough that her body would automatically swallow it.

"We can't just leave her here, either," Dokugaku said with a frown of his own as he considered their options. "And I doubt there are any humans around who would take kindly to an injured child left on their doorstep by a group of youkai."

"Oh, I know!" Lirin exclaimed, leaping to her feet in excitement. "We could take her to Baldy Sanzo!"

"Mr. Hakkai's healing ability would certainly be helpful, but I don't think that would be a very good idea, Lady Lirin," Yaone said, most of her attention still focused on the child.

"Why not?" Lirin asked, pouting.

"There are assassins after them," Kougaiji reminded her.

"Oh yeah." She plopped to the ground, sitting cross-legged with her arms across her chest.

"She'll likely be awake by morning, Lord Kougaiji. It would be best to keep her here until then," Yaone suggested, settling the girl back down.

"Very well. We'll stay here for the night and figure out what's best for her in the morning."

* * *

Gojyo blinked and squinted at his cards, trying to make the eight aces and two Queens of Spades in both of his left hands turn back into four aces and a queen in what he was sure was the only left hand he had.

The squinting helped with the double vision, but didn't do anything one way or the other for the increasing pain in his head. The bones of his skull ached and there was a weird feeling of pressure. He didn't think that was a very good sign, but there was no point in worrying the monkey about it.

"Four of a kind," he said around his cigarette, showing his cards.

"Awww, man! You're cheating, aren't you?" Goku accused, throwing down a pair of twos, a pair of sevens, and a king.

Gojyo snorted in disgust. "Like I'd really have to cheat against the likes of you."

"Oh, goodie, sleeping beauty has finally woken his lazy ass up," Sanzo said dryly from the mouth of the cave. Gojyo glanced at him as he shuffled the deck and shuddered, immediately squinting his eyes again. As much as he loved pissing the monk off, the world definitely did _not_ need two of him. _And speaking of pissing Sanzo off…._

Gojyo smirked and blew him a kiss. "I always knew you thought I was sexy."

Sanzo twitched and ground his teeth. "I'd hit you with the fan for that, but I don't want to contribute to any possible brain damage. You're dumb enough as it is."

"Bastard," the redhead growled.

"Now, now, children, it's been a rough night," Hakkai said, ducking into the cave with an armload of wood. He flashed a relieved smile at Gojyo. "Let's all try to behave, shall we?"

Gojyo watched him as he put the wood down and tended to the fire. Two Hakkais wasn't bad. It meant two best friends and two guys to cook and clean up after him. On the other hand, it also meant twice as much nagging. He shuddered at that thought. Squinting again was definitely a good idea.

Hakkai frowned and knelt in front of him. "Stop squinting and tell me how many fingers I'm holding up," he ordered, holding up three fingers.

"Three," Gojyo immediately answered.

"Uh-huh… and how many fingers are you actually seeing?"

"Three on that hand and three on that hand," Gojyo reluctantly admitted, pointing a little to the left of Hakkai's raised hand, then to the right of it.

He choked back a scream as the brunet youkai suddenly grabbed the sides of his head, the pain and pressure increasing to nearly unbearable levels as the man's chi flowed through him. Then everything faded to a vague, throbbing ache, and his vision was normal again.

"Better now?" Hakkai asked, absently petting Gojyo's blood-matted hair.

The half-breed grinned. "Yeah. Thanks, Mom," he said flippantly.

Hakkai stiffened, his eyes narrowing. Then he stood up, visibly forcing himself to look cheerful. "Well, that's a relief."

Gojyo blinked at him in confusion. "What is it? Did I say something wrong?"

"It's nothing, Gojyo. It's just a bit stuffy in here. I'm going out for some air." He gave a smile that was probably meant to be reassuring before heading back out.

"Wait, Hakkai!" Gojyo cursed and got to his feet, suddenly realizing what had upset his friend. He glanced over at Sanzo. "And you think _I'm_ the dumb one?"

"You _are_ dumb," Sanzo said, lighting a Marlboro. "Hakkai's just being stupidly oversensitive."

"Tch." Gojyo started to run his hand through his hair, then jerked it back. "Iiiewwghk, I really need a shower," he muttered before following after Hakkai.

The other man hadn't gone far and was sitting on a log, staring up at the stars. Gojyo sat beside him, lighting a cigarette and quietly smoking for several moments while he gathered his thoughts. "There are a couple of things we need to talk about. First of all, I don't need you making excuses for me."

"Retsuko had the right to know what she'd done to upset you," Hakkai murmured, still looking up at the sky.

"I was pissed at her for loving her stepkid. She sure as hell wasn't the one in the wrong," Gojyo said angrily, though it wasn't Hakkai he was really angry at. "And all she really needed to know is that while I'm generally an easy-going, friendly kind of guy, I can be a prickly asshole when it comes to certain things. That would have explained everything without making me look pathetic."

"Surviving severe child abuse doesn't make you pathetic," Hakkai said quietly, finally looking at him.

"Oh yes, please excuse poor Gojyo's occasional bouts of jackassery. He's like that sometimes because his mommy didn't love him enough," Gojyo said mockingly. "In fact, his mommy loved him about as much as a case of crabs. Well, probably less, actually, since society generally doesn't guilt people into keeping crotch bugs. By golly, Hakkai, you're right. That doesn't make me sound pathetic at all. What was I thinking?"

"I didn't say anything like that, and you know it." Hakkai's voice was neutral. Gojyo suspected the careful tone was masking pity rather than anger, but he pretended otherwise. He couldn't stand pity.

"Well, _duh_, you're not that crude," he said, waving his cigarette dismissively before taking another drag. "You said something about Mom not being amicable toward me."

Hakkai looked away and sighed. "What else did you think we needed to talk about?"

Gojyo exhaled a stream of smoke before answering. "I may not be one of the great thinkers of the world, but I'm not as dumb as Sanzo likes to think. I'm fully aware of the fact that Mom was insane. I also know how normal mothers act. They take care of their kids and fuss over them. I was comparing you to moms in general, not my screwed up one in particular."

"I know that," Hakkai said softly. He sighed again. "I don't think it would have bothered me at any other time. But you had nightmares two nights in a row about her, and then there was everything that happened tonight…."

"Two nights in a row?" Even if Hakkai somehow knew about the fucked up nightmares he'd been having before Goku pulled him out of them, there had been a night between them and the one involving the woman from the inn.

Hakkai nodded. "Right before your bout of sleep-walking, you were mumbling about her."

"Ah. Don't remember that one."

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes after that, Gojyo finishing his cigarette and lighting a new one. "She was a great woman, you know. Before the insanity," he said, lost in thought. "She pretty much went insane from the moment I came into her life, so I didn't experience her greatness firsthand. Villagers like to gossip, though, especially when they don't realize there's a little child of taboo nearby, hiding from the other kids.

"Sha Yumeka was a young, beautiful woman. She was kind and compassionate, and she was a schoolteacher. She had a well-behaved little boy and a wonderful husband. A really, really wonderful husband. Everyone adored him, and he volunteered a lot of his time to helping a group of people driven from their hometown by a nasty clan of youkai.

"Thirteen months after they showed up, a group from that clan came after them while my dad was there visiting the young lady he'd fallen in love with. Or lust, more likely. Actually, I don't even know if she was young. She could have been middle-aged, I guess. Probably not all old and wrinkly though.

"Anyway, when Mom and some of the other villagers got there, most of the humans had been slaughtered and a good portion of the youkai as well. Dad had apparently lost it and gone all out on the bastards. They found him half-dead, curled protectively around a month old baby with red hair and eyes. He handed me over to Mom, said I was his, and made her promise to take care of me before he went and died the rest of the way.

"All in one night, she gained the burden of taking care of her husband's half-breed bastard and lost almost everything important in her life. She lost the man she loved more than life itself right after finding out he'd cheated on her and then she lost the respect and support of the entire village before losing her job and her sanity."

Hakkai frowned. "The village turned against her before she went insane?"

"Yeah. Dad was even more loved than Mom. If he cheated on her, they figured it must have been her fault. They apparently didn't even consider the idea that he was just a horny bastard who couldn't keep it in his pants when he saw a nice piece of ass."

He stopped to take a hit of nicotine, Hakkai waiting patiently for him to continue. He felt bad for pouring out all of his crap on the other man, but after what had happened with Retsuko and Kyoko, he felt the need to talk. Hakkai was the only one who would really listen and understand.

"The asshole villagers left her to care for a five-year-old and an infant all by herself, with no one to comfort her other than her son. I think she tried to love me at first. When I was really little, the fact that I looked like an off-colored, human version of Dad wasn't as obvious, and sometimes she would pat me on the head and stuff. She still cried every time she looked at me, though, and she'd occasionally have screaming fits where she'd start hitting me. Those got a lot more frequent as I got older."

He paused again for another long drag of his cigarette. "If not for those early signs of affection, I probably would have eventually learned to just close my heart."

"If that had happened, you'd be a very different person," Hakkai pointed out.

"Maybe," Gojyo agreed. "But is who I am really all that great?"

"Yes!" Hakkai said fiercely.

Gojyo blinked at him, startled by his vehemence. "You're crazy, you know that, right?"

"Perhaps I am, but does that make me wrong?" Hakkai challenged.

Gojyo closed his eyes, smiling slightly. "Who knows?" He finished his cigarette and tossed away the butt. "Come on, let's go back to the cave."

* * *

As she slowly swam toward consciousness, the first thing Kyoko became aware of was pain. Her eyes fluttered open, focusing on the concerned face of a pretty youkai woman. Fear surged through her, and she scrambled to her feet despite the pain, screaming in terror.

"Wait, you shouldn't be moving around like that!" the woman called out in alarm just as a male voice roared, "What's going on? Where's the danger?"

Kyoko stared at the source of the voice, a tall man with a sword, before her attention was caught and held by a flash of red.

"I don't sense anyone else around. I think she's just scared of us." The man who spoke had long red hair, reddish-purple eyes, and youkai markings that included three curved lines on his left cheek. He smiled reassuringly at her. "You don't have to worry about us. We won't hurt you."

_The man with the red hair and eyes and the two curved scars on his left cheek waves at her, smiling brightly. "You don't have to worry about us, princess," he says warmly. "We wouldn't even think of hurting the mother of such a cute little lady."_

Their words were only vaguely similar, as was their appearance, but it was enough. With a strangled sob, Kyoko threw herself at the man, ignoring the pain the sudden movement caused.

Caught off guard, he stumbled backwards, falling on his rear with the little girl in his lap. She buried her head against his chest, breathing in his scent. He smelled of fire and sun-warmed earth rather than rain and cigarettes, but it was a good, calming smell.

"It seems you have an admirer, Kou," the swordsman said with a deep chuckle.

Kyoko turned to look at him, squeaking in alarm when the face of a teenage girl suddenly appeared in her line of sight. The older girl was squatting in front of her, grinning hugely.

"Hi, I'm Lirin! That's my big brother you're sitting on, but I'll share him with you today, since you're hurt. What's your name?"

"K-Kyoko," she stuttered nervously, a little bit of her fear dissipating. She felt safe with the redheaded man, and the youkai girl seemed friendly.

"Well, as much as it pleases me that you've learned to share, Lirin, big brother wants to get up off the ground," Kougaiji said dryly.

"I'll take the child, Lord Kougaiji," Yaone offered, slowly approaching them in an attempt to keep from frightening the girl.

Kougaiji frowned as Kyoko whimpered and clung tighter to him. He held up a hand to stop the healer. "Why are you comfortable with me but scared of Yaone?"

"You look a little like my friend," she said quietly. She glanced apprehensively at Yaone. "An' she's a youkai lady."

"Was the person who hurt you a youkai lady?" Dokugaku asked gently, kneeling down to look her in the eyes.

She nodded, watching him warily. Something about him seemed oddly familiar, but she couldn't place it. "Mo… my stepmommy hit me."

"Shit!" Dokugaku swore harshly. He closed his eyes, feeling sick. Why did fate always send him redheads with abusive stepmothers? He hadn't been able to save Gojyo from his mother, not really, and there was nothing he could do to protect Kou from the twisted whims of Gyokumen Koushu. Maybe the third time would be the charm. Maybe this one he could save.

He opened his eyes to see Kyoko looking at him in puzzlement. Crap. He'd cussed in front of her. She'd probably never heard language like that before. "I'm sor-"

"You sound like my friend," she said, cutting him off. "He said that too when he found out Mommy hit me. An' it sounded the same." She carefully shifted in Kougaiji's lap and sniffed Dokugaku, the powerful sense of smell she'd inherited from her forest youkai father telling her things most youkai would have missed. "You smell kinda like him, too. Like rain and things that don't have names in people words. He smells a lot like cigarettes though."

The three adults exchanged glances at that, and Kougaiji sighed. "And who do we all know who looks a little bit like me, would smell somewhat like Dokugaku, and smokes like a chimney? She's been with the Sanzo Party."

Lirin blinked. "Sanzo?" She frowned. "Baldy doesn't look like you at all, except he has purple eyes. And why would he smell like Doku? That doesn't make any sense."

"He means my little brother," Dokugaku explained patiently. Lirin was cute and lively, but thinking wasn't her strong point.

"Oh, yeah!" Lirin laughed and rubbed the back of her head. "Hee, hee, I forgot that he smokes."

Dokugaku ruffled her hair and turned his attention back to Kyoko. The little girl was staring at him wide-eyed. "You're Gojyo's big brother?"

"Yep," he confirmed, smiling as a lot of the tension left her small frame. "If you were with Gojyo and his friends, how did you end up in the river?"

The girl looked down sadly, breaking eye contact. "Mo…. Stepmo-" She bit her lip, wanting to call the only mother she had ever known what she had always called her, but not sure if it was right to do it anymore. She took a deep breath and started over. "Mommy went crazy and tried to hurt me. Gojyo got between us, and she hit him over and over with her spear." She raised and lowered her arm several times in demonstration. "He fell down, and she kept hitting him. I tried to help, but Mommy knocked me into the river."

Dokugaku stood abruptly with a carefully blank expression. "I'm sorry, Kyoko, I have to go for a few minutes."

He strode off into the denser area of woods, ignoring the worried calls. Once he was far enough away not to be heard, he snarled in rage and punched a tree before leaning his forehead against it. He could picture it all too clearly. Gojyo on the ground, years of abuse leaving him helpless to defend himself while a formless youkai woman raised a spear above her head. He shuddered as the mental image changed. His brother was young again, and it was his mother standing over him with that goddamned axe….

Soft footsteps pulled him out of his memories. "Dokugaku?" Yaone lightly touched his shoulder, offering support. "Gojyo is a good fighter. He would have easily taken out a single youkai woman."

"No." Dokugaku turned, looking at her bleakly. "He wouldn't have been able to defend himself against a crazed youkai woman with a half-breed stepchild. If she was enough like Mother, he would have just passively let her kill him."

"Maybe so, but his friends wouldn't have allowed it," Yaone pointed out firmly. "Your brother is fine."

He took a deep, shuddering breath as he thought that over. "Yeah, you're right," he said shakily. "Gojyo's probably fine."

* * *

Gojyo, Goku decided as he watched the redhead, was not fine, no matter what he kept saying to the contrary. The kappa hadn't played with him at all that morning, not even fighting with him over breakfast. And now he was just sitting there, watching the scenery go by and smoking while the wind of the jeep's passage made his ponytail sway.

Goku huffed and looked up at the sky. It was going to rain, which meant Hakkai and Sanzo would be moody too. Well, there was nothing he could do about them, but maybe he could cheer Gojyo up a little bit. He rummaged through the sack at his feet, pulling out his last apple. The thought of giving away his precious food hurt, but not as much as seeing his usual playmate so sad.

"You can have this, if you want," he said, holding out the bright red fruit.

Gojyo glanced at him, then looked back out at the landscape. "No thanks, Goku, I'm not hungry," he said absently, taking a puff of his cigarette.

Goku's shoulders slumped in dejection. "Gojyo…."

The older man sighed and reached out to ruffle his hair. "Quit worrying about me, little monkey. I just caught a case of PMS from your owner or something. I'll be fine in a bit."

Sanzo twitched in the front seat, but gave no other indication that he'd heard.

"Oh, I see," Goku murmured. He thought about that for a minute. "What's PMS?"

"It stands for Perverted Mule Syndrome," Sanzo answered before Gojyo could say anything. "And he sure as hell didn't get it from me."

"What the fuck?" Gojyo said indignantly, leaning forward in his seat. "Did you just call me a mule?"

Sanzo glanced back at him and smirked. "You're as stubborn as one, and I have no trouble believing that one of your parents was a horse and the other a donkey. It would certainly explain the way you smell."

"Fuck you, bastard," the redhead growled. "It stands for Pissyass Monk Syndrome, and your unholy ass is definitely suffering from it."

"Leave my ass out of your perverted fantasies," Sanzo sneered.

"Stop the jeep, Hakkai," Gojyo snarled. "I'm gonna murder me a monk!"

The brunet youkai laughed. "Now, now, Gojyo, that wouldn't be a very good idea. Besides, we have more important things to consider. It's going to rain soon, and with all of the excitement of the past few days, I forgot to buy a new rain tarp."

"What's wrong with the one we have now?" Sanzo asked, frowning as he fished his pack of Marlboros from his robe. His lighter refused to catch, and Gojyo automatically lit it for him despite their previous arguing.

"Well, it has a rather large hole," Hakkai explained.

"Fuck," Gojyo cursed, throwing himself back against his seat and sucking harshly at his Hi-Lite. "Is there enough left intact for me to use? You can just drop me off somewhere around the nearest village, then go in and get some inn rooms."

Hakkai and Sanzo exchanged meaningful glances before nearly going off into a ditch forced the brunet to pay attention to his driving again. "I really don't think we should separate," he said.

"Yeah, well, take that up with the villagers," Gojyo said sourly. "They aren't going to like me any more than the people at the last town I went into."

"Don't worry, I have a plan," Hakkai said cheerfully, glancing back and smiling.

"I'm not going to like this plan, am I?" the half-breed asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Nonsense, it's a wonderful idea!" Hakkai insisted brightly, turning his attention back to his driving.

"Aw, crap," Gojyo muttered. "I'm _really_ not going to like this plan."

* * *

"Fuck damn it, I _hate_ this plan!" Gojyo snarled as he stumbled for what seemed like the hundredth time. They were walking along a nearly deserted street in what was apparently the rockiest village in the world, and Goku's constant, muttered litany of "I'm hungry" was starting to drive him crazy.

_Maybe he'll shut up if I shove one of these damn rocks in his mouth._

"Are you all right?" Hakkai asked, squeezing his arm reassuringly.

"Am I all right?" Gojyo repeated incredulously. He slowly turned his head toward the other man, his fiery glare of death hidden by the length of brown cloth tied over his eyes. "There's _soot_ in my hair, and my eyes are covered up by my fuckin' headband. Do you _think_ I'm all right?"

"Now, now, Gojyo, calm down. It's only until we get rooms at the inn. You don't really want to be stuck camping in the woods when the rain comes, do you?"

"Unlike you and the moodyass monk, I _like_ rain." He could actually feel the coming storm like a warm, faint tingle in the roots of his hair, especially the thin locks in front that stood out from his head no matter how hard he tried to make them hang down.

He smiled bitterly. As a child, he had always hoped the rain would wash away the red of his hair and eyes, cleansing him of the burden of his father's infidelity and letting him escape from what he was. Now, if he got caught in the rain, it would wash away his disguise, revealing his mixed heritage.

"Shut up and keep walking, useless kappa!" Sanzo snapped from somewhere ahead of them.

"Damn it, I'm sick of you ordering me around, you grumpy man-bitch!"

**BANG!**

Gojyo grunted and fell against Hakkai as the human-turned-youkai grabbed him around the middle and pulled him out of harm's way.

"Sanzo!" Hakkai's voice was sharp with reproach as he steadied his friend. "It isn't fair to shoot at him when he can't see."

Gojyo smirked and stuck his tongue out in what he was pretty sure was Sanzo's general direction. Then he yipped in pain as strong fingers dug into his arm.

"Stop provoking him, or next time I'll let you get shot," Hakkai said pleasantly. The redhead shuddered, imagining the smile that had to have accompanied those words. Maybe being unable to see wasn't such a bad thing after all.

"Tch. Whatever," Sanzo muttered, and Gojyo immediately took back his earlier thought. The monk sounded almost embarrassed, like he had forgotten Gojyo was blindfolded, and the half-breed would have paid good money to see the expression that went with that tone. "Just find us some rooms, Hakkai. I'm going to feed my monkey before the rain starts."

Goku's annoying background drone abruptly ceased. "Food?"

"Hurry up, Goku, or I'll just make you look without buying anything."

"Uwaa! I'm coming! Food! Food!"

Once their footsteps faded away, Gojyo sagged slightly against Hakkai. "I really fucking hate this," he muttered.

"I know, Gojyo," Hakkai said softly. He knew that the other man had spent most of his life hating what he was, but he hated hiding it even more, feeling like it was a form of defeat if he had to change himself just to be accepted. "You'll have to stay in our room, but once we get to the inn, you can uncover your eyes and wash the soot out of your hair."

"Our room?"

"Of course," Hakkai said as they continued down the street. "It wouldn't look right for a supposedly blind man to be left by himself in a strange village."

Gojyo smirked suggestively at him. "Are you sure it's not because you want me all to yourself for the night?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I like the idea of at least a commitment to marry before anything like that, and you would make a terrible wife."

Gojyo laughed. "Well, I can't argue with that. Though I thought we decided that you'd be the wife."

"No, _you_ decided that I'd be the wife, which is plainly silly. You're much more feminine than I am," Hakkai insisted.

"What?" the redhead squawked in indignation. "Dude, don't even _joke_ about things like that!"

Hakkai chuckled and patted his hand. "Calm down, dear, we'll be at the inn soon, and then you can wash the soot out of all of that lovely long hair."

"Evil bastard," Gojyo muttered. Hakkai just laughed and led the way.

* * *

The storm broke a few minutes after Gojyo's shower. The warm, tingling sensation had intensified, spreading down his spine. Despite all of his efforts to suppress his true youkai abilities, he had never been able to keep from feeling the rain like something singing through his veins.

He gazed out the window, absently pulling his wet hair back into a ponytail. His head still ached a little, combining with the rain to remind him of the first time he'd received a truly vicious beating. He'd been six at the time, the same age as Kyoko, and showing off his burgeoning youkai abilities.

He slowly walked toward the window and opened it, the tight leash he'd held on his powers for most of his life gradually relaxing. He shivered as his hair started moving, almost like it was being played with by its own private breeze.

"_Look, big brother!" he calls out. He thrusts his arms up into the air, laughing as invisible currents of energy lift and play with his hair._

Gojyo held his arms out toward the window, his attention only barely on the present. Rain came into the room, glowing a soft silver and retaining the shape of individual drops as it flowed horizontally to twine around his arms. It was cold against his skin, but at the same time, it was warm, like the caress of a lover.

"_Look what I can do!" Some of the rain shifts and comes under their shared umbrella, twining around his small arms. He cups his hands, and the raindrops rush to fill them, forming the shape of a doe. "See, big brother? It's just like the one we saw in the woods today."_

He cupped his hands, and the rain filled them, forming a shape at his mental command. This time, it was a woman. A youkai woman in a dress with long, wavy hair and tiny raindrops for tears. Even after all these years, he still thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

_Big brother is impressed, maybe even a little envious. "Dad could do things like that," he says. "I mostly take after Mother though. All I can do with rain is sense it."_

_The little boy grins, pleased there is one thing he can do that his beloved big brother can't._

The little water figurine stopped crying and tilted its head up to look at him. It smiled, and Gojyo felt like his heart would break. He would have given anything for the real one to have looked at him like that at least once.

_He hears the door open, but he's too absorbed in playing with the rain doe to give it much thought._

"_What are you doing?" a familiar voice shrieks. The rain in his hands falls, his concentration shattered as pain, his only friend other than his brother, explodes through his head. More blows follow the first as Mother continues to scream at him. He doesn't try to stop her because, even though it hurts, he's pathetically grateful that she's touching him. That she's not ignoring his existence. "How dare you have powers like my husband when my Jien doesn't? Bad boy! Bad boy! Naughty, naughty, filthy boy!"_

"You never told me you could do anything like that."

The voice was soft and filled with something like awe, but Gojyo wasn't expecting it. The water fell to the floor, and he flinched away from the speaker as if expecting to be hit.

"Gojyo?" Hakkai said in alarm, gently gripping his friend's shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" the half-breed snarled. He violently jerked away from the other man, turning so his back slammed into the wall beside the window.

"I see," Hakkai murmured, slowly lowering his hand to his side. "It's something she punished you for, isn't it?"

"Sorry for yelling at you, man," Gojyo mumbled, staring down at the floor. "You startled me."

"It's quite all ri-" He was cut off by his friend's sudden gasp.

Gojyo shuddered, his released youkai energy once more setting his hair in motion, this time violently enough that it snapped the ponytail holder. After so many years of disuse, it refused to be quietly locked away again. The rain was calling to him with a sweet siren song only he could hear.

"S-sorry, Hakkai," he managed to gasp out as he grabbed the window ledge. "I've gotta go."

"Gojyo!"

He ignored Hakkai's frantic call and forced his six-foot frame out through the window, falling into the mud. He scrambled to his feet and ran, the darkness broken in his immediate vicinity by the eerie silver glow of the rain close enough to be affected by his power.

He slipped and fell in the mud again, but this time he stayed down, only bothering to get onto his knees. The rain in a three foot radius around him stopped falling, hanging for one frozen moment before spiraling around him.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter Seven**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter posted and for the shortness of it. I've got a sick ferret who's going in for surgery on October 10, and that's distracted me from writing.

**Warning:** There's a disturbing flashback to Dokugaku and Gojyo's childhoods at one point in this chapter.

* * *

Sanzo and Goku had made it to the inn only moments before the rain started. Now the monk was in his room, taking a deep drag from his cigarette as he gazed out the window, slowly losing himself in his memories.

Heartrending loss and feelings of worthlessness filled him, as intense now as a decade ago, when he had failed to protect the most important person in his life. He could almost feel his master's blood on him again and the agony of his soul trying to follow the man into death.

As he descended into ever-increasing melancholy, something tugged at his awareness, the unusualness of it enough to catch his interest. _What the hell?_ he thought with a frown, suddenly able to clearly feel Gojyo from down the hall. The half-breed had enough of a youkai aura to be identified as one, but he had always felt strangely muffled, like part of his power was tucked away. Now that muffled feeling was gone.

Enhanced strength, speed, and reflexes plus the ability to summon a weapon were the only aspects of his youkai heritage that Gojyo had ever revealed, but Sanzo had long suspected he could do more. What had happened to make him suddenly unleash his hidden power? A problem with humans wouldn't have caused that kind of reaction, and Sanzo didn't sense any youkai other than his three companions.

As long as it didn't affect him in any way, the blond was usually content to let them do whatever the hell they wanted. In this case, though, finding out what was going on with Gojyo would provide a much-needed distraction from his rain-induced depression. That was just motivation enough for Sanzo to take one last drag of his cigarette before stubbing it out in the ashtray and heading out of his room to investigate.

He gave a perfunctory knock, barging into the room in time to see Gojyo slither out the window while Hakkai frantically called his name. The brunet rushed to the window and put his hands on the sill, looking like he was about to go out into the storm after his friend.

"Your nagging is annoying as hell, but I never thought it'd actually make someone dive out a window to escape," Sanzo commented dryly. He knew that wasn't what had happened, but it would hopefully cure Hakkai of his temporary stupidity.

Hakkai glanced over his shoulder at Sanzo's words, automatically masking his worry with a cheerful smile. "Ah-ha-ha…. I'm afraid it's a bit more serious than that, Sanzo. He started using youkai powers he's never exhibited before, and I believe they've overwhelmed him."

"Shit." Sanzo sighed wearily and rubbed at the space between his eyes.

_Maybe those superstitious morons who consider children of taboo bad luck are right after all,_ he thought. _That idiot has more than his share of craptastic luck, and it tends to rub off on those around him._

"Sanzo!" Goku's voice called out just as the monk turned to leave the room. The boy skidded to a halt at the doorway, Nyoi-bo out and clutched in both hands. "I'm sensing some weird energy. Are we about to be attacked?" he asked eagerly.

"No," Sanzo said. The monkey slumped in disappointment, his weapon vanishing. "The energy you're feeling is your fellow moron running around in the rain, using youkai powers he never bothered to tell anyone he had."

Goku immediately perked up. "Gojyo has powers? Cool! Let's go find him!"

Sanzo sighed and followed as Goku raced off toward the front door, Hakkai quickly outpacing them both.

* * *

The rain swirled and danced for him like a live thing, glowing with soft silver light as it drank down his power. It was gradually getting harder to breathe, but he didn't notice, too absorbed in listening to the song of the rain. It was the most hauntingly beautiful thing he'd ever heard. A song of sorrow, but also of freedom and fierce, wild joy.

As he knelt there in the mud, his heart and smoke-abused lungs struggled to keep him alive. He had forced his powers into dormancy before they were fully developed. Now they had awakened at full potency, and it was more than his half-human body could handle. He watched and listened to the rain with a dreamy smile, his system beginning to shut down.

* * *

Hakkai quickly spotted the small patch of glowing rain. Gojyo hadn't gotten very far. He was only a few yards from the inn, on his knees in the mud while silvery rain twisted and writhed around him in a complex pattern. He seemed fine, but Hakkai's unease grew as he ran toward his best friend, Goku and Sanzo only a few steps behind.

"Gojyo?" he called tentatively, coming to a stop a few feet from where the redhead knelt. Gojyo slowly looked over his shoulder at him, his eyes glowing like the fiery pits of hell while his hair practically stood on end, the strands twitching and twining in reaction to his power.

Goku brushed past Hakkai and stuck his hand into the winding path of a swatch of rain. The silver drops hit his hand and slid across his skin, continuing the pattern. Goku grinned down at Gojyo and laughed. "Really pretty, but kinda lame. Your powers would be so totally useless in a fight."

Gojyo glared at him, the rain under his influence reacting to his anger and flinging itself at Goku. The teenager laughed at the ineffective attack, but abruptly turned serious when the rain suddenly went back to normal, the silver glow, plus the red glow of Gojyo's eyes, fading while his hair settled back down. The redhead gasped vainly for air, then keeled over into the mud.

"Gojyo!" Hakkai cried, shoving Goku out of the way and dropping to his knees at his friend's side. He grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him, only vaguely aware of Sanzo kneeling beside him to check for a pulse in Gojyo's wrist.

"He's dead," the monk announced in disbelief and anger, almost as if he suspected Gojyo had dropped dead just to annoy him.

_That really would be a very Gojyo thing to do,_ Hakkai thought inanely. Then he roughly shook his head to clear it, shifting Gojyo to lay flat on his back.

_Don't you dare die on me!_ he thought, holding the other man's nose shut before covering his mouth with his own and blowing twice, forcing air into the redhead's lungs.

He pulled back and put his hands over Gojyo's chest, sending chi into him as he began the set of thirty compressions. "One, two, three…"

* * *

Dokugakuji sat near the campfire, listening uneasily to the sound of distant thunder. Something felt wrong, and he hoped his friends were all right. Kougaiji, Yaone, and Lirin had gone back to Houtou Castle, leaving him to take care of Kyoko. The girl had told them about the Village of Taboo, but even if she had known the exact location, Yaone didn't want her moving around much for at least a week.

The healer had originally planned to stay with her, but Dokugaku had requested that it be him. The first time had been for the best, but he couldn't bring himself to once again abandon a defenseless half-breed child.

He shuddered as he remembered that night, roughly ten years ago, when his own sick actions had destroyed the last shred of his poor mother's sanity, driving her to take an axe to an innocent little boy.

_He staggers to his room, feeling dirty and sick. He hates what she makes him do with her, but it's the only way to calm her down. He slips into bed with his little brother, the boy turning to snuggle against him._

_He pets the child's hair and holds him close, breathing in the familiar scent of little boy, rain, and cigarettes. He knows he should keep the boy from smoking, but he suspects nicotine highs are one of the few things that allow him to cope with the constant abuse. He also knows he should keep Gojyo's hair short like his own so Mother can't grab him as easily, but red has always been his favorite color, and he can't bring himself to cut the pretty scarlet locks._

_His hand shifts from his brother's hair, trailing lightly down Gojyo's back before sliding under his shirt. He thinks of what Mother makes him do as he slowly caresses the boy's warm skin._

_She says she does those things to him and makes him touch her like that because she loves him. He doesn't think she really loves him, and he knows he doesn't love her, though he wants to. She clings to him because he's the only thing left from her old life, and he tries desperately to love her because of who she used to be. That woman died with his father, and he is beginning to accept that nothing will ever bring her back._

_The only one who has really loved him, purely and unconditionally, since that night twelve years ago is the child in his arms. What if Mother is right? What if the things they do in her bedroom really are things you should do with the people you love? Part of him knows it isn't right, but he can't seem to stop himself from closing his eyes and slowly kissing his brother._

_The boy squirms, and he rolls, pinning Gojyo under him as he slides his tongue into his small mouth. Maybe sex won't feel so dirty and wrong if it's with someone he truly loves._

_He hears a sound and pulls away from the boy under him, looking out into the hallway beyond the partially open door. He doesn't see anything, but he knows Mother must have been there, watching._

_He looks back at his little brother, intending to continue where he left off, but he's frozen by the look in the crimson eyes staring up at him. Confusion and, beyond that, utter trust. He feels sick, suddenly certain that what he tried to do is wrong and equally certain that Gojyo would have let him do it. He knows then that he can do anything to his brother, even kill him, and the boy won't protest or try to stop him._

"_What's wrong, Jien?"_

_He swallows hard. "Nothing, kid," he says hoarsely, rolling back onto his side and hugging Gojyo tightly. "Just go back to sleep, okay?"_

"…_Okay."_

Dokugaku took a deep, shuddering breath. The next day, his mother had seemed calmer than usual, and he had left the house, trying to sort things out. He'd come home just in time to kill his mother to keep her from murdering Gojyo. Then he ran away, confused and sure of only one thing: his dear little brother would be better off without him.

_Some day, I have to tell him why I abandoned him like that,_ he thought. There was another crash of thunder from the west, and Dokugaku suddenly had the chilling feeling that he might never get the chance.

* * *

_He is somewhere cold and gray. It's barren and featureless except for a bright spot of light. He has nothing better to do, so he walks toward it. It grows gradually larger, and he eventually sees a figure standing in the light. As he gets closer, the figure is revealed as a pretty human woman with long black hair and bright green eyes. She smiles at him, and it's a familiar sight. He's seen that same smile reflected back at him in the mirror._

_He steps back from her in confusion, his thoughts acknowledging who she must be while his emotions violently reject the label his mind gives her._

She isn't my mother,_ he denies._

"_Come with me, Gojyo," she says, holding out her hand to him._

"_Who are you?" he demands harshly._

"_Your mother. I'm here to lead you on to the next life."_

"_No!" hi insists, shaking his head. "Maybe you gave birth to me, but that doesn't make you my mother. It just makes you a stupid bitch who didn't have the guts to kill me before I could be born."_

"_Gojyo-" she begins, her voice and expression filled with pain and sympathy._

"_No." The cold denial that cuts her off isn't his. He feels a tug on his hair, and suddenly he's a child again, looking up at the youkai woman who is the only parent he's ever known. "This filthy thing isn't mine, but he is my husband's, so I will _never_ let him be yours!"_

_The human woman's eyes narrow. "Ignore her, Gojyo, she's just a memory. She can't hurt you anymore." She holds out her hand again. "Come with me, baby. It's time to move on from this pain-filled life."_

_His mother releases her grip on his hair, letting him chose between her and the woman who bore him. He takes a hesitant step toward the human and her tempting offer of escape from his miserable life, but then stops and looks back at his mother. She's crying, just like always. He can't just leave her when she's crying._

"_Mom?" He hesitantly reaches out to touch her arm, yelping in surprise and fear when she grabs him. He relaxes as she pulls him into a hug, her long nails slashing his back over and over again. It hurts, but he doesn't care. He's used to pain, and it's worth it to feel her arms around him._

_She laughs bitterly. "You're a spirit, and I'm just a memory, but I still have more of a hold over your worthless brat," she says to the other woman. "You took everything from me. I took your boy and damaged him beyond repair."_

"Come on, Gojyo, breathe! You can't leave me!"

_He blinks and pulls away from his mother, not really noticing as he becomes an adult again while the memory image of his stepmother fades away. "Hakkai?"_

_He frowns. Of course he can't leave Hakkai. Hakkai needs him. His friend needs to be needed, and he desperately needs Hakkai so he won't be alone. Behind him, his birth mother smiles sadly and vanishes, taking the light with her._

* * *

Hakkai put his mouth over Gojyo's again, blowing air into the other man. "Come on, Gojyo, breathe!" he said, going back to the chest compressions. "You can't leave me!"

"He's gone, Hakkai," Sanzo said quietly. Hakkai ignored him, pouring more of his chi into his friend to replace the energy he'd lost while using his reawakened powers. "Damn it, stop, Hakkai! There's nothing else you can do."

"Shut up!" the normally calm man snarled, almost losing count. Part of him knew Sanzo was right, but he couldn't just give up. He couldn't just helplessly watch again while someone he cared about died.

Sanzo cursed and grabbed him, pulling him away from Gojyo's body. He viciously shoved his elbow back into the blond's ribs, immediately dropping back to his knees when he was released. He started mouth-to-mouth again, pulling away when he felt sudden resistance.

Gojyo coughed, finally breathing on his own again. His eyes slowly opened. "Jeez, Hakkai," he said weakly, "couldn't you've found a hot chick to do the smooching back to life thing? My mouth is gonna taste like dude for the rest of the night."

Hakkai smiled and laughed shakily. "Next time, I'll just let you die while hunting for a pretty girl to revive you."

Gojyo grinned up at him. "Yeah, you do that."

* * *

Sanyin sat in the unused library within her clan's fortress, considering her options. Capturing Heniao's prey would be simple enough, just open a portal to the Shadowed Ways and drag him through before his companions could react, but that didn't seem like the best course of action. Countless youkai had died because they had underestimated the Sanzo Party. Sanyin didn't intend to become one of them.

She looked up as Heniao burst into the library, clearly agitated. "My bond with the prey was temporarily broken."

"He was dead, but revived before your connection could be permanently severed," the silver-haired youkai calmly hypothesized.

"We need to do something before those idiots he travels with manage to kill him again!" Heniao insisted, pacing angrily.

Sanyin smiled. "Don't worry, dear cousin, you've given me the perfect idea."

Heniao stopped pacing and blinked. "What do you mean? What's your plan?"

"Tomorrow night, we attack. We'll lose on purpose and make them think you're dead. Then, the next time your prey is alone, collecting him will be quite easy."

Sanyin smiled again. It really was a lovely plan, especially since the simplest way to convince the Sanzo Party that Heniao was dead was for her to truly die.


	8. Chapter 8

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter Eight**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Thanks to: **Nimblnymph for the "the cuteness is melting my brain" line.

**Author's Note:** As I mentioned in the very first author's note, a kappa is an ugly beasty with depressions in its head that hold water. Gojyo occasionally complains when Goku calls him a kappa, and Goku has made comments about Gojyo's depressions drying out when he clearly doesn't even have them. That's why I have it stated in this chapter that kappa is a derogatory term for all water youkai.

* * *

The morning sun was a brighter patch of gray in the stormy sky as the rain continued to fall. The room's small table had been pushed against the window, and Gojyo was sitting on it next to a half-eaten bowl of rice and an empty coffee cup, absently flipping his lighter open and closed. He slowly blew out a thin stream of smoke as he gazed outside, most of his attention focused on the song of the rain.

It wasn't as intense as the night before, but it was definitely much clearer than when he was a kid. If he'd been able to hear it as well back then, he never would have sealed his powers away, no matter what his mother did to him.

_Of course, she probably would have just tried to kill me sooner,_ he thought, drawing in a lungful of smoke. Then again, maybe not. He still had no idea what had set her off that day. He'd been uneasy about something, so had stayed quiet and out of her way.

He shrugged slightly and exhaled another thin stream of smoke. It didn't really matter why she had done it. All that mattered was that she had tried to kill him and had ended up dead instead. And his adored older brother had run out on him, too traumatized by what he'd been forced to do to stick around.

_That, or he was too horrified at the thought of having to wander the streets with a filthy little child of taboo in tow,_ his more cynical side thought darkly. _Hell, it might have been a bit of both._

A hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder, jolting him out of his thoughts. He jerked away from the unexpected touch, looking up at Hakkai's worried face.

"You didn't hear a word I said, did you?" the brunet asked with a sigh.

"Sorry," Gojyo mumbled around his cigarette. "I was thinking."

Hakkai smiled brightly. "It's wonderful that you're open to new experiences so soon after last night's events."

"Eh?" The redhead stared at him blankly for a moment while his tired mind tried to figure that statement out. Then he snorted and flipped him off. "Ha fuckin' ha. Real funny, asshole."

Hakkai just continued smiling and sat on the edge of the table. "You should try to get some more sleep. Last night took a lot out of you."

"I'm fine," Gojyo insisted quietly, stubbing out the remains of his cigarette. He fished another Hi-Lite from his current pack and lit it, flipping his lighter open and closed a few more times before putting it away.

"You were dead," the other man pointed out bluntly.

"And now I'm not. Thanks for that, by the way." He gazed out the window again. Talking to Hakkai had made the rain's song fade to the background, but now it had his attention again.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the cool glass, his hair shifting slightly while the rain closest to the window began to glow and swirl in time with the song. There was a soft tug at his ponytail, followed by a harsh yank.

Gojyo yelped, his connection with the rain breaking as he opened his eyes and glared at Hakkai. Then he took a deep breath and blew it out up at his bangs before taking a hit of nicotine. "I was doing it again, huh?"

Hakkai nodded, releasing his grip on the other man's hair. He had monitored Gojyo's energy levels all through the night, waking him at least once an hour to keep him from killing himself again while unconsciously using his powers.

Gojyo leaned his head back against the window, rubbing at his eyes. They were dry and gritty with exhaustion. He opened them and looked outside once again. "Kappa is a derogatory term for all water youkai," he said suddenly. "Real kappas are ugly bastards with depressions in their heads for holding water."

"I know." Hakkai cocked his head, studying his friend. "Does it upset you when you're called that?"

"Nah, not really." He waved the hand holding his cigarette dismissively and took another drag. "It's just like me calling the kid a monkey, Sanzo the random insult of the day, and you emo dude."

"You call me emo dude?" Hakkai asked, raising a brow in disbelief.

Gojyo grinned at him. "Well, not to your face, obviously."

"My, how considerate of you."

The redhead laughed. Then his expression became pensive. "I'm technically a water youkai, but I can't do a thing with the stuff unless it's falling from the sky. I'm half raindancer, and I can hear it sing."

"The rain?" Hakkai asked curiously.

Gojyo nodded. "If it hadn't sucked so much of my energy out last night, I could probably figure out how to control my powers. Right now, though, I can't even manage to tune out the song. If we stay here while it rains, someone is going to have to watch me the entire time. The monkey doesn't have the attention span for it, Sanzo is always moody and distracted when it rains, and you need to sleep at some point."

"What are you suggesting?"

Gojyo frowned and closed his eyes, his hair reacting as he purposely triggered his power. Hakkai called his name sharply, and the half-breed held up a hand to keep him from interrupting. "Just a sec," he murmured. "I'm checking something."

He thought of what he wanted to know, and the song of the rain changed slightly, suddenly focusing intently on him. _Maybe I shouldn't be doing this_, he thought uneasily. But then it was too late. The rain gathered his awareness and pulled him into it.

_He becomes part of the song. He is it, and it is him. A perfect melding of unbearable sorrow, innocent joy, fierce independence, and the aching need for companionship. As his essence is scattered throughout the storm system, mapping its dimensions, he realizes something. His power doesn't control the rain. It gives it a measure of sentience while under his influence. It chooses to obey him because it likes him. No, likes isn't the right word. It-_

Pain jolted Gojyo back to his body, his chest aching and his cheek stinging from the hard slap that had brought him back to himself. He sucked in a lungful of air, coughing as it burned its way down. He was sprawled across the table with a very upset Hakkai staring down at him. He felt the familiar tingle that meant the healer had used his chi to bolster his failing energy reserves.

"Did you find out whatever you needed to?" Hakkai asked with the pleasant neutrality he used when he was hiding the fact that he was furious.

Gojyo found his cigarette lying on the table where he'd apparently dropped it and took a drag before responding. "How tired are you? Could you manage to drive a couple of hours without falling asleep at the wheel?"

"Possibly. Why?" Hakkai asked, his eyes narrowing. If Gojyo didn't have a good reason for what he'd just done, he was going to throttle the man for making him worry like that.

"It'll be raining here for the next couple of days, but if we head northwest, we'll be out of the storm in a little under two hours."

"We'll have to convince Sanzo that it's worth it," Hakkai pointed out, his anger draining away. Finding out the duration and dimensions of the storm had been a good idea and worth the risk.

Gojyo smirked. "Leave him to me," he said confidently. "Just fetch me the monkey and a meat bun, and we're good to go."

* * *

Gojyo barged into Sanzo's room without so much as a knock, Goku following along and finishing the last of the meat bun he'd been given as a bribe. The monk was standing next to the window with a cigarette held between his fingers and a nearly overflowing ashtray balanced precariously on the windowsill.

"We should get going," Gojyo announced, ignoring the monk's murderous glare.

"It's raining, dumbass," Sanzo growled, bringing his cigarette up to his mouth for a hit of nicotine.

"Aww, is the poor widdle monk scawed of getting wet?" the redhead mocked, leaning one arm on the other man's shoulder.

"I liked you better when you were dead," Sanzo muttered in, slapping Gojyo's arm away like it was a particularly nasty insect. "Don't touch me."

"Why?" Gojyo asked with a seductive little smile. "Afraid you might start to like it?" Then he expertly dodged the bullets fired his way, signaling to Goku as he did so.

"Gah!" Sanzo stopped firing and took a step back as Goku suddenly appeared in front of him.

"There aren't many people here, and it's so _boring_! An' they don't have any good restaurants! Can we leave, Sanzo, please? Can we, can we?"

Sanzo twitched as the monkey stared up at him with huge, pleading gold eyes. "Damn it, the cute is eating my brain," he muttered, pressing a hand to his face. Then he sighed, letting his arm drop and tucking his gun back into his robe. "Fine, we're going! If you two morons aren't ready in five minutes, you'll be left behind. Now, get the hell out of my room!"

Before they could comply, a young woman, the innkeeper's daughter, peered nervously through the open doorway. "I-is everything all right? I heard-" Her words were cut off by her own terrified scream as she caught sight of Gojyo. She backed away, her eyes wide with fear. "Yo-youkai!"

"Hey, wait, miss!" Gojyo called, wincing as she ran away. "Damn it."

Sanzo smirked. "I would have thought you'd be used to women running away from you screaming by now."

"Keh. Bastard," the half-breed muttered, flipping him off.

"Come on, we need to get out of here before her fellow villagers come with torches and pitchforks. I'm sure we could find a replacement redheaded slut in the Village of Taboo, but I've just started getting used to you."

As they headed out, Hakkai, who had come out into the hall at the sound of the woman's screams, fell into step beside Gojyo. "You knew someone would come to investigate the gunshots."

"Yep," Gojyo affirmed. "Had to have something in reserve in case the main plan didn't work."

That hadn't gone as he had thought it would. He had expected the innkeeper to show up, not his daughter. It had hurt to see such a pretty girl so scared of him. He couldn't really blame her for her reaction, though. All of the youkai were going nuts, and he was a half-breed. She had no way of knowing that his human blood kept the Minus Wave from affecting him.

"I see," Hakkai murmured. "Wouldn't it have been simpler to just allow yourself to be 'accidentally' discovered rather than baiting Sanzo?"

"Simpler, yeah," Gojyo agreed, flashing him a wicked grin, "but not nearly as much fun."

Hakkai laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "You are impossible," he said, shaking his head while the other man's grin just got wider.

* * *

Goku watched in horrified fascination as Sanzo dipped a spoon into his bowl of… stuff and contentedly ate it. The man was the center of his universe, his bright, golden sun, but Goku had to admit there was something seriously _wrong_ with his sense of taste.

They had set up camp soon after getting out of the rain, Gojyo practically passing out from exhaustion as soon as he got his bedding laid out. Hakkai had lasted only a little longer, managing to prepare a quick lunch for his two conscious companions and Hakuryu before giving in to the need for sleep.

As the afternoon had turned to evening, Goku had gathered more firewood while Sanzo made dinner. In hindsight, that hadn't been the best way to divide the work. Goku wasn't a very good cook, most of the ingredients tending to end up inside of him instead of in the pot, but he at least would have been able to manage something edible.

The monk had put together an unholy concoction of dried squid, a few cans of coconut milk, mayonnaise, honey, tapioca pearls, canned peach chunks, and seaweed. Just the smell had been enough to make Goku queasy, and now he was watching Sanzo eat the stuff, feeling sicker with each passing moment but unable to look away.

"Holy shit, what the fuck is that smell?" Goku gratefully looked away from his keeper and the horrible food, turning his attention to Gojyo. The redhead was sitting up, blinking owlishly before rubbing at his eyes and yawning.

"Sanzo made dinner," Goku said, his voice full of misery and horror. He was so hungry, but he'd keel over dead if he ate the stuff, he just knew it.

Gojyo paused in the middle of releasing his hair from its disheveled ponytail, wrinkling his nose in disgust. He started to ask why the hell Sanzo had been allowed to cook, but a glance to his right at the man sleeping about a foot away from him was answer enough.

He sighed and retrieved the comb from his pocket, running it through his hair a few times before pulling the crimson locks back into a high ponytail. Then he stood up, leaving his customary brown jack behind, and cautiously approached the cooking pot, peering dubiously at the contents. It looked about as edible as it smelled, but damn it, he was hungry.

Gathering his courage, he plopped down next to the fire, snagged a bowl from the bag they kept their few dishes in, and filled it. He poked at the thick, white glop, shuddering in disgust. Then he took a deep breath and tried a spoonful.

"Oh, god, that's nasty!" he said, gagging. "What the hell did you do, jerk off in it?"

Sanzo snorted. "You wish."

Gojyo opened his mouth to respond, but didn't say anything, his eyes going blank and the bowl tumbling to the ground from his suddenly lax grip.

"Shit!" Sanzo cursed while Goku worriedly called Gojyo's name.

The redhead sprang to his feet, his shakujou materializing in his hand. He swiped at Goku with the fixed blade, the crescent at the other end flying free with a rattle of chain and curving toward Sanzo. Both barely managed to dodge, caught off guard by the attack.

"Hey, what are you attacking _me_ for? _I_ didn't cook that gross stuff!" Goku wailed. What Sanzo had done to the poor food was a terrible, terrible thing, but violence wasn't going to repair the damage.

A wall of shadow rose from the ground near Gojyo, deflecting a weak chi blast, and Goku glanced over at Hakkai. The man was awake and on his feet, Hakuryu "kyuu"ing in agitation from his shoulder.

"It seems the shadow youkai have finally decided to make their move," the brunet said grimly.

"No shit," Sanzo muttered, continuing to dodge the crescent blade. He drew his gun, intending to merely graze Gojyo to bring him out of the trance state. That plan was foiled as tendrils of shadow suddenly wrapped around him, forcing his wrists together and then up over his head. Another tendril covered his mouth, keeping him from using the Maten Sutra to confine the half-breed.

Bound as he was, the monk was an easy target, but Gojyo inexplicably retracted the crescent, using his weapon like a normal staff against Goku, who had called in his Nyoi-bo. More shadow tendrils emerged, immobilizing Hakkai and Hakuryu and leaving the monkey to fend for himself.

"What the hell is going on?" Goku asked in frustrated confusion as he fought. He could have easily overpowered Gojyo, but he was trying not to hurt him.

"Hit him, Goku!" Hakkai called. "He's under someone's control, but pain will snap him out of it!"

"Okay!"

Goku exploded into motion, his hesitant defense becoming a confident offense. Gojyo kept up with him for the first few exchanges, but then Goku was able to exploit an opening, slamming Nyoi-bo against the man's side. Gojyo hit the ground hard, skidding into one of the many patches of shadow created by the setting sun.

"What… the hell?" the redhead gasped in confusion, struggling up to his hands and knees. "What's goi- _shit_!"

A pair of delicate, taloned hands rose up from the ground and wrapped around Gojyo's wrists in a strong grip. Then they tugged sharply, and his yelp of surprise was cut off as he was dragged down into the shadow.

"Gojyo!" Hakkai and Goku both called, the latter running to the spot where their friend had vanished.

He yelled in alarm, arms flailing in a futile attempt to keep his balance, as a figure shot up from where Gojyo had just been. He fell back on his rear, looking up at the brunette youkai woman. She smiled maliciously as shadow tendrils crawled across his body, pinning him down.

* * *

Within the black void of the Shadowed Ways, Sanyin held Gojyo tightly for the few moments it took Heniao to reassert her control. Once he was docile, she relaxed her grip and gracefully sank to her knees, pulling him down with her.

"Let's see how your friend's are faring, shall we?" she murmured to him, languidly waving her hand. A patch of blackness cleared away, revealing Heniao's confrontation with the rest of the Sanzo party. The image was one-way, allowing her to watch without being seen.

So far, everything was going as planned. She was keeping Sanzo and Goku bound while Heniao kept Gojyo tranced and maintained the shadow tendrils holding Hakkai. Sanyin smiled. It was almost time to spring the secret part of her plan. Then the bond between Heniao and Gojyo would be broken, and the half-breed would be hers.

* * *

"If you're trying to get Sanzo's scripture for Kougaiji, kidnapping Gojyo really isn't the best idea," Hakkai said in a calm, conversational tone. "We won't trade."

"I'm a shadow youkai," Heniao said haughtily. "My kind don't bow to Gyokumen Koushu and her little puppet prince."

She could feel him releasing small bursts of chi into the tendrils holding him. She carefully weakened them, creating the illusion that his efforts were actually working. The other two were also trying to get loose, Sanzo struggling uselessly while Goku flailed and gnawed at his bonds.

"Then why are you doing this?" Hakkai asked.

"Because I'm hungry, and your friend is a tasty little snack," Heniao purred, licking her lips.

Goku blinked, momentarily ceasing his attempt to chew through the amorphous shadow tendrils. "Gojyo's tasty?" His stomach growled loudly.

"Ah-ha-ha…. You really shouldn't try to eat Gojyo when we get him back, Goku. You don't know where he's been," Hakkai gently admonished.

Heniao shook her head in disgust at their idiotic exchange, using the time to weave a thin layer of shadow across her torso. It would take a lot of effort, but if she did everything just right, she could fake her own death, the shadows harmlessly absorbing the chi blast Hakkai would send her way once he "escaped".

_And once I no longer have to worry about these fools, I'll be able to put Sanyin in her pla-_

**BANG!**

There was a sudden impact against her back, followed by numbness. She blinked in confusion, swaying slightly as she tried to figure out what had just happened. She slowly turned around, but what she saw didn't make any sense. One of the monk's hands was still stretched up above his head, but the other, the one with the gun, had been released.

_That bitch betrayed me,_ she thought fuzzily. Then she fell to the ground, dead.

* * *

"Oh dear, it seems I let one of the tendrils go a little too soon," Sanyin said in mock innocence. Then she threw her head back and laughed, releasing Sanzo and Goku as Hakkai was freed from Heniao's power.

The man in her arms stiffened, then went limp as the other shadow youkai's death broke the bond between them. He started struggling only a few seconds later. Sanyin got to her feet, grabbed a handful of scarlet ponytail, and flung him aside.

The formless blackness caught him, enveloping his hands as his arms were stretched out to the sides. "Who the hell are you?" he growled, trying to tug his arms free.

"I am Sanyin," she said, gliding toward him. She lightly stroked his cheek, studying him as her hand continued on down his body.

"Hey!" he yelped, squirming as she started undoing his belt. He liked sex, a lot, and the kinkier, the better, but there were some things even he wasn't interested in. Being molested by an evil youkai chick while stuck in a freaky black void was definitely at the top of the list, right under anything involving guys or animals, which amounted to about the same thing, in his opinion.

She smiled wickedly. "The neck, wrist, and the inner part of the elbow are all excellent places to take blood, but they are much too noticeable."

She pushed his jeans and underwear down, and more of the black substance wrapped around his ankles, spreading his legs. He cursed, resuming his futile struggles as she dropped to her knees in front of him, her silver hair brushing against his groin as she slowly licked his inner thigh.

"Damn it, stop it! NO!" His shouted refusal turned into a gasp of pleasure as her fangs sank into him, her saliva entering his system as she claimed him as her prey.

* * *

Gojyo staggered through the woods, lost and confused. The last thing he remembered was foolishly trying the unholy crap Sanzo had made. What the fuck was he doing wandering around in the trees? The stuff had probably screwed with his head, sending him off on a delusional ramble through the wilderness.

_At least I'm not naked and pretending to be a monkey in the trees like that time I got way too much sugar when I was a kid,_ he thought, shuddering. Random nakedness he could deal with, but he never would have been able to live down pretending to be a monkey.

He squinted, seeing something that might have been the glow of their fire. His sense of smell wasn't as good as a full youkai's, but when he sniffed the air, he caught a faint whiff of something hideous. The smell got stronger as he moved toward the glow, confirming his belief that it was their campfire.

"Where the hell have you been?" Sanzo snapped as Gojyo trotted into camp.

"I have no idea. The last thing I remember before being in the woods is eating that crap you made. What the fuck did you put in there, anyway?" he asked, glaring at the monk suspiciously.

"There's nothing wrong with my cooking," Sanzo insisted irritably. "It tastes good, and it's not what made you zone out."

"Then what-" Gojyo froze, his eyes widening as several things suddenly clicked into place. His hand flew up to the partially healed bite marks on his neck. "_Fuck_! I got bitten by a goddamn vampire youkai," he growled. He glanced at the others, noticing that Goku looked surprised and confused while Sanzo and Hakkai didn't. He'd expected as much. "Which you two bastards knew all along."

"We couldn't tell you, Gojyo," Hakkai said soothingly. "You might have passed the information along to the youkai who attacked you."

"Fuck you, Hakkai!" Gojyo snarled, barely noticing as Goku came over to him and poked at his arm. "You guys weren't going to let me go to her, so that's not the reason. You didn't tell me because the bitchy monk thinks I'm a moron. I'm not a child, and I'm not stupid… and why the _hell_ is the monkey licking me?!"

Goku looked up at him, his nose wrinkling in disgust as Gojyo snatched his arm away. "That lady lied," he whined. "You aren't tasty at all. Just kinda salty."

"_What_?" Gojyo stared down at him incredulously, some of his anger dissipating in the face of Goku's bizarre behavior. "Dude, that is seriously fucked up. The only people I want eating me are hot chicks, and only in the figurative sense, not literally."

"Huh?" Confused golden eyes blinked at him. Then their owner shrugged and glared unhappily at Sanzo and Hakkai. "They kept it secret from me too, you know."

Gojyo snorted and ruffled the monkey's hair. "That's because they knew _you_ would have told me."

"Gojyo," Hakkai said, taking one step toward his friend. The redhead narrowed his eyes, then turned away, ignoring him.

"Come on, Goku," Gojyo said, snagging him by the back of his shirt. "I'm hungry. There's a lake nearby, and we both know how to grill fish."

Hakkai watched as the two of them left the camp, Goku dancing around happily and chanting about tasty fish. He sighed heavily. Gojyo had been right, of course. They had kept it a secret because Sanzo had been convinced the half-breed would do something stupid if he found out. And he had gone along with it, even though he knew his friend was smarter than he let on.

"Hn. Don't worry about it, Hakkai," Sanzo said dismissively. "The idiot's way too forgiving. He'll be over it by morning."

The other man nodded slowly, though he didn't agree. The monk was partially right, Gojyo was an extremely forgiving person and he normally got over things fairly quickly, but Hakkai had the sinking feeling that it was going to take more than one night this time.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter Nine**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Author's Note:** Sorry this has taken so long. I had a nasty case of writer's block, which wasn't helped at all by the fact that this is essentially a transition chapter, setting things up for the climax of the story (which will likely be in either chapter fifteen or sixteen).

* * *

Dokugakuji peered out of the alley, unconsciously fingering the silver armband that allowed him to pass for human and limited his power. He was in a town that was almost large enough to be considered a city, trying to find out about the Village of Taboo.

He'd already been to several towns in the past couple of days, the information he gathered from each narrowing down his search area without actually telling him where the village was.

Talking to the humans had been an ordeal. His fists clenched as he remembered some of the conversations he'd had. Their hatred of youkai was understandable, but the things they'd said about half-breeds….

Dokugaku took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. The humans were being terrorized and preyed on by youkai. They had no idea what was causing it, or that it didn't affect half-breeds. What they felt wasn't the same as the unreasoning hatred and contempt his little brother had been subjected to in the village where they'd grown up.

He had a new life and name, but that didn't erase the memories of his past or make them any easier to bear.

_He hurries through the village, so anxious to get home that he's left work early. Mother has been relatively calm lately, but he's uneasy. His little brother has had even more bruises and cuts than usual. When asked about it, Gojyo just laughed nervously and said he'd been playing with the other village children. _

_He slows when he sees a group of children gathered around something, throwing rocks and laughing cruelly. He assumes it's a dog and starts back toward home. He feels sorry for the animal, but not enough to leave his brother and mother alone together any longer than necessary._

_Before he can get very far, he freezes in his tracks, making out the words "child of taboo" amongst the children's babble. He turns back and runs to the circle of kids, roughly pushing two girls, one human and one youkai, out of the way._

_His brother is there, on his knees with his head tilted forward so his bangs hide his face. Rage fills him, and he turns on the scattering children, intending to punish as many of the little monsters as he can get his hands on._

"_Don't hurt them, Jien!" Gojyo pleads, jumping to his feet and grabbing his wrist. "If you hurt them, they won't like me."_

_He looks down at his little brother in disbelief. The boy is covered in cuts from the sharp rocks as well what looks, and smells, like animal droppings. His eyes are filled with pain and sorrow, but also with stubborn determination._

"_They already don't like you," he says gently, petting Gojyo's hair._

_The nine-year-old looks down. "I know. But someday… someday I might be good enough for them to like me. But that won't happen if you hurt them."_

_His heart breaks at Gojyo's words. He wishes he could just grab the boy and leave the village, traveling until they found a place where no one knew what red hair and eyes meant. _

_His little brother looks back up at him, flashing him the sweet little smile that always enrages Mother because it looks nothing like Father's. "We should go home now, big brother. Mom's probably worried about us."_

_The boy's smile falters somewhat at his own words, and he reaches into his pocket for a cigarette. They both know that Mother will only be worried about one of them. _

Dokugaku was pulled from his memories as something red caught his attention. A badly scarred one-eyed woman with red hair was walking openly down the street. Two teenagers, one a redheaded boy and the other a girl with black hair, followed her. They weren't close enough for him to see, but he suspected the two redheads also had red eyes. The woman was dressed as a warrior – a leather and steel bustier, leather pants, and leather wristbands –, but didn't have any visible weapons. She was either foolish, or she could call in a weapon at will.

They stopped at the inn across from Dokugaku's alley, and were soon joined by another female redhead. The newcomer talked animatedly with the scarred woman for several moments, the latter eventually patting her on the shoulder before she and the two teenagers went back the way they'd come.

Dokugaku frowned and stepped back deeper into the alleyway. If the three redheads really were half-breeds, the lack of reaction from the townsfolk didn't make any sense. Perhaps the town was close enough to the village that the people knew half-breeds weren't going insane.

He sighed and tried to figure out what to do. He could approach the remaining redhead, but if she really was a half-breed, he doubted she'd be very happy to have a stranger suddenly start asking her about her home.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't realize there was anyone else in the alley until someone abruptly pressed against his back, an arm sliding across his shoulder to hold a knife to his throat.

"Give me all your money, and I might just let you live," the man said smugly.

Dokugaku sighed again, disgusted with himself for letting his guard down. In a burst of movement too quick to follow, he lifted his leg to slam his foot back into the man's knee while simultaneously grabbing his wrist. He forced the human to the ground, pinning him with a knee in the small of his back and one hand holding his head down. His other hand still had a vice grip on his attacker's wrist.

"Now then, I have a few questions for you. Answer them, and _I_ might just let _you_ live."

* * *

When Dokugaku got back to the tree where he'd tethered the dragon, Kyoko was nowhere in sight. He wasn't too worried, though, as it was likely because she'd done as he'd told her.

"Kyoko!" he called up into the tree, absently petting the dragon's head. The leaves rustled as the little girl gingerly climbed down. Once she was within reach, he carefully pulled her from the tree and sat her down on the dragon. "The village is about half a day's walk into the woods."

Kyoko gazed up at him in relief. "Mommy will look for me there when her mind gets better."

Dokugaku looked away from those hopeful red eyes, suddenly uneasy. He'd assumed that the girl's mother was like his own, a woman driven insane by the infidelity and death of the man she'd loved. But something about the tone of Kyoko's voice and her wording bothered him.

_Her tone doesn't mean anything. Gojyo loved Mother even though she constantly beat him when she wasn't ignoring his existence. And six-year-olds word things strangely all the time._

He was almost certain he was right, but if he didn't ask, that sliver of doubt would haunt him. "Kyoko, when did your mother start hitting you?" he asked gently, not wanting to upset her too badly.

"Mommy started acting weird, an' then she hit me for no reason, but it's _not_ her fault!" she insisted. "Gojyo said it's 'cause of the Minus Wave."

Dokugaku closed his eyes, feeling ill. He'd known all along that lives were being ruined because of the woman he indirectly worked for, but until now it had been an abstract concept, something that didn't really affect him.

"Hey, how long do you think it'll be before Mommy's better?"

He opened his eyes, but couldn't bring himself to look at her as he answered. "I'm sure it won't be long at all," he said, unable to tell her the truth. If her mother had succumbed to the Minus Wave and attacked the Sanzo Party, she was dead.

* * *

Gojyo's gaze darted back and forth nervously as they walked through the busy streets of the town Reishu had marked on their map. The scarred woman had said it was safe, but he still felt uneasy and tense, like someone was going to jump out of nowhere and attack him or something.

_I hate feeling like this,_ he thought unhappily, hunching forward and shoving his hands in his pockets. _Damn it, I wanna go somewhere where I can just hang out with a buncha drunk jackasses, winning all their cash while the bar floozies crowd around me._

"It seems Miss Reishu was correct about this town, Gojyo," Hakkai said, interrupting his pleasant little fantasy of being surrounded by adoring bar chicks.

Gojyo didn't react to his words. It had been over a week, but, except for the few times they'd had to deal with youkai assassins, he hadn't acknowledged the existence of Hakkai or Sanzo since the night the shadow youkai woman had attacked.

The brunette walking beside him sighed heavily. "Really, now, Gojyo, I understand why you're upset, but you're being incredibly childish."

Gojyo pulled a cigarette from his pack and lit up before responding. "Hakuryu, tell your owner that if I'm gonna be treated like a kid anyway, I might as well act like one."

"Kyuu?" the little dragon cocked his head, then craned his neck to look at Hakkai. "Kyuu, kyuu!"

Hakkai sighed again. "Yes, Hakuryu, I heard him. Please don't respond when he says things like that. It will only encourage more juvenile behavior."

"Keh. His behavior is _always_ juvenile," Sanzo muttered scornfully as they neared the inn.

Gojyo twitched and had to fight hard not to reply directly to the monk. "Goku, tell your owner that just because he acts like a crusty old fart, it doesn't mean everyone who doesn't is acting like a kid."

"Sanzo, Gojyo says-"

_WHACK! WHACK!_

"Ow! Whad'dya hit me for, Sanzo?" Goku wailed loudly while Gojyo cursed and rubbed his poor, aching head.

"Idiot, don't repeat what he says!" Sanzo snapped grouchily as he tucked his fan away. "I'm right fucking here; I can hear every moronic thought that passes through his sorry excuse for a brain to dribble out of his filthy mouth."

Gojyo growled around his cigarette. He opened his mouth to tell the stinking monk off, but was distracted by a young woman at a nearby food stand. She was pretty, and she was staring at Sanzo with a weird expression. She flashed Gojyo a distracted, but friendly, smile when she noticed him watching her.

He smiled back and waved, all of his tension fading away along with his anger at Sanzo's words. Everyone in town who saw him had to know what he was, but apparently they really didn't give a damn.

He clasped his hands behind his head and whistled a cheery little tune as he followed the others to the inn. In this situation, not giving a damn was a hell of a lot better than ignorance.

* * *

Shihi hurried through the streets, trembling with excitement. She couldn't believe it. The Sanzo Party was here! The handsome, courageous youkai hunters she'd heard so much about were here, in her town. The stories all said they were heading west, which would take them through the mountains where the worst of the local youkai laired.

She had to tell the others as quickly as possible. With the Sanzo Party on their side, they could speed up the timetable of their plans and finally strike back at the monsters that had been preying on them.

* * *

Gojyo held his cards in one hand, a slow smirk spreading across his face as he casually reached back with his free hand to release his hair from its ponytail. The two girls behind him murmured appreciatively as he shook his head slightly, the motion making the long strands glitter like spun rubies in the dim light as they settled into place.

He watched with carefully contained amusement as the man across from him licked his lips nervously and stared at his cards. He'd messed with his hair just because he'd felt like it, but he'd shown the same lazy smirk earlier when his hand been a royal flush. It was as distinctive as the nearly manic grin he'd had plastered across his face when he'd had nothing but pair of twos.

Gojyo chuckled around his cigarette as the man cursed and folded. He casually tossed down his own cards, revealing the two of diamonds, four of spades, five of spades, eight of hearts, and Jack of clubs. It was utter garbage. His pair of twos from before would have beaten it.

"An important tip, my friend: when it comes to poker, Sha Gojyo has no tells unless he wants to," he said smugly, leaning back in his chair and clasping his hands behind his head. Technically, he hadn't had to show his cards, but his opponent was starting to bore him.

The man grumbled, quickly finished his beer, and left the table. He wasn't happy about losing, but from his casual walk, Gojyo was pretty sure he wasn't planning to come back later to start something.

He leaned forward to collect his winnings, adding them to his already substantial pile while the girls hovering behind him squealed in delight and rubbed against him. He smiled at them both, shuffling his cards and waiting for the next sucker to come along. He felt at home in the bar, with the smoky air, the rank stench of unwashed men, the noisy babble of barely coherent drunks, and the lovely ladies in their skimpy dresses and gaudy jewelry.

The familiar environment put him so at ease that he wasn't even mad at Hakkai and Sanzo anymore. He scowled briefly at the thought of the damn monk. Okay, so he wasn't mad at Hakkai anymore, and he wasn't ticked off at Sanzo any more than he usually was. Someone seriously needed to pull the stick out of the bastard's uptight ass and beat him with it.

_Of course, pulling the stick out of Sanzo's ass means I'd hafta touch it._ He shuddered at the thought and gulped down his beer before filling the glass again from the pitcher. Sanzo's ass was actually pretty fine, aesthetically speaking, but it belonged to a guy, and a frigid, bitchy one at that. If it had belonged to a frigid chick, on the other hand….

_Mrow. That would be one ice princess I'd definitely have to thaw with the old Sha Gojyo charm. _He wrinkled his nose in disgust and eyed his beer dubiously as he realized he was basically contemplating bagging an imaginary female version of Sanzo. _Maybe I oughta lay off the booze for the rest of the night….Nah,_ he thought with an amused snort. _Who gives a shit about a couple of weirdass fantasies? Sobriety is so overrated._

He drained his glass again just as a fellow child of taboo sat down across from him. Her mouth quirked up in a small smile as the ladies behind him stiffened and pulled away slightly.

"Don't worry, girls, I'm not here to steal your new toy," she said, putting a sheet of paper face down on the table. "You're Gojyo, right?"

"Yep," he answered, leaning forward slightly. "Is Reishu here?"

"Nah, she had to take Kishou and the new kid back home. She told me to watch for you and give you a detailed map to the village." She patted the sheet of paper, eyeing his deck of cards thoughtfully. "I've been bored lately, though, so I'm going to make you work for it."

* * *

Hakkai sat at the small table in his room, sipping tea and attempting to read. It was quite late, or early, depending on how one looked at it, but sleep eluded him. He felt like there was something he should be waiting for, something that had to happen before he could sleep.

_I'm waiting for Gojyo to show up and try to convince me to go out drinking with him,_ he finally admitted to himself. It was what the redhead always did when they got to a town large enough to have decent bars. It obviously wasn't going to happen this time.

He sighed and got to his feet, intending to at least try to sleep, when there was a light rap at the door. He barely resisted the urge to yell at whoever it was to go away. He'd been uncomfortable and out of sorts for over a week now, but really, that was no reason to be rude.

He opened the door and blinked. A very rumpled looking Gojyo was standing there, holding a case of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He smelled of booze, sex, and cheap perfume.

"Yo, H'kai, how ya doin'?" he slurred cheerfully.

"I'm… fine," Hakkai answered slowly. His friend was very obviously drunk and had apparently forgotten that he was still angry about the shadow youkai incident.

"I found bar chicks!" Gojyo announced, beaming with pride.

"Um… congratulations?" Hakkai peered over the other man's shoulder to make sure he hadn't brought said bar chicks along with him. The hallway was, thankfully, quite empty aside from Gojyo.

"An' there was a cute little redhead, but she jus' wanted ta gamble. She dinnit want to have sex with me," he said sadly. "Not enough cute chicks wanna have sex with me, even though I'm very hot. Do you think I'm hot?" He tried to pull off a seductive pose, but just looked drunk and mildly confused, as if his poor, drink addled brain was trying to figure out just what he thought he was doing.

"Ah-ha-ha… um…" Hakkai smiled and rubbed the back of his head, trying to decide what to say without hurting Gojyo's feelings. He settled on something that was pretty much the truth. "I'm not the best judge of men, but if you were a woman, I'd definitely find you quite attractive, and would possibly want to have sex with you."

"I'd wanna have sex with me too if I was a woman." The redhead blinked, considering that for a moment. "I mean, I'd want to have sex with you if I was a woman…. Or if you were a woman…. I think." He nodded sagely, as if he'd just said something deeply profound, then blinked again in confusion. "Wait… what was I talking about?"

"I have no idea," Hakkai said. Gojyo sometimes didn't even make sense when he was completely sober. Trying to decipher his bizarre thought processes when he was drunk was nearly impossible. "I thought you weren't speaking to me."

"You were an ass, but you're my best friend, so I forgive you." Gojyo put his cigarette in his mouth and flung his arm around Hakkai's shoulders, pulling the shorter man against him. "I brought beer," he said, holding up the case for Hakkai's inspection.

He smiled slightly and sighed. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed Gojyo's tendency for random physical contact. Unfortunately, he couldn't take advantage of the fact that his friend was an affectionate drunk. It wouldn't be right.

"I'm sorry, Gojyo, but I can't accept your forgiveness right now. You're drunk."

"Psssh, I'm not drunk," Gojyo denied, barely avoiding spitting on Hakkai. "I'm just a tad bit tipsy, 'sall. I've had an awesome night, an' I wanna end it with a few drinks with my best bud."

He rubbed his cheek against Hakkai's hair, then let him go and carefully navigated the short distance to the table, setting the case of beer down on the middle of it. He turned one of chairs around and straddled the seat before opening the case and pulling out two beers.

"Don't you think you've had enough for the night?" the brunet asked, sitting across from Gojyo and taking one of the cans.

"Probably, but I don't care. I'm gonna take this beer and drink him down," the inebriated half-breed cheerfully announced, immediately guzzling half the can.

Hakkai raised a brow. "I didn't realize that beer was male."

"…Huh? Dude, beer ishn't male. Sha Gojyo is a ladies' man, an' he don't swallow guys. Beer is definitely female."

He eyed his can with an almost dreamy expression and brought it up to his mouth, slipping his tongue into the opening as if he was kissing a woman. Then he yipped in pain and jerked back, falling backwards from his chair with a startled squawk. His beer went flying across the room as he hit the floor.

Hakkai winced and peered down at him. "Are you all right, Gojyo?"

The redhead blinked up at him owlishly. "How did the floor get here?" he asked in utter bewilderment.

Hakkai sighed and stood up. "Really, Gojyo, there are some things you just shouldn't stick your tongue into."

"Yeah," Gojyo agreed, nodding enthusiastically. "Garbage disposals, an' toilets, an' other guys's mouths… an'….." He trailed off, looking at Hakkai in vague alarm. "Oi, H'kai, the floor… dude, it's touching my ass."

"Erm…. Ah-ha-ha…. Yes, I suppose it is." His friend was apparently completely wasted. If he tried to get him to go to his own room, he'd likely just pass out in the middle of the hallway.

"I hope it's not a gluy foor… guy floor… 'cause if I'm gonna get groped by a floor, I want it ta be a chick."

"Ah, well, I don't know about the floor, but I'm fairly certain that the bed is female," Hakkai said, helping Gojyo to his feet. He settled the other man's arm across his shoulders and smiled at him. "Let's go sit on it, shall we?"

"Okay," Gojyo chirped happily, leaning against Hakkai.

They managed to get all the way to the bed before Gojyo tripped. Hakkai tried to catch him, but only ended up pinned to the mattress with the redhead sprawled across him.

"Um… Gojyo?"

The only response was a string of incoherent babble followed by the deep, even breathing pattern of sleep. Hakkai sighed in exasperation, affectionately petting Gojyo's hair. It was a bit uncomfortable, but, on the bright side, he wasn't likely to get cold.

"Goodnight, Gojyo," he murmured, smiling softly and closing his eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter Ten**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Author's Note:** In the manga there are a couple of non-story line splash pages that show Dokugaku smoking. I'm assuming this means he's a casual smoker.

**Warning:** Disturbing, but non-explicit, things happening to a child.

* * *

Gojyo stumbled along through the woods behind his companions, fuzzily contemplating death; either his own or Sanzo's. His mouth felt like something furry had crawled in it and died while the bright afternoon sun stabbed at his eyes even through the sunglasses he'd snagged from Goku. His head was pounding hard enough to make him nauseous and the goddamn monk was whistling loudly. The evil bastard knew he had a hangover.

"If you don't shut the hell up, I'm gonna fuckin' hurl all over you," Gojyo muttered around a cigarette.

The whistling stopped abruptly as Sanzo turned toward him with a narrow-eyed glare. "Try it, roach boy."

"Eeww! Gojyo, that's nasty!" Goku said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

Gojyo winced, hissing slightly at the volume. _Well, at least we aren't moving anymore,_ he thought in misery. They'd been walking through the woods all damn day after being forced awake at the asscrack of dawn by the sadistic monk.

"Shut it, monkey boy," he growled, his bloodshot glare in the kid's direction hidden by the sunglasses. His hangovers usually only lasted a couple of hours, but this one had made itself at home and apparently had no intention of leaving anytime soon. Part of the reason was probably due to only getting about two hours of sleep.

"Why don't you make me, nasty kappa roach?" Goku taunted, his voice still obnoxiously loud.

"Now, now, you two, please settle down," Hakkai cut in soothingly.

"Hn. We've been walking over eight damn hours. How long until we get to the village?" Sanzo asked.

"Ah-ha-ha… well, you see…" Hakkai began, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Sanzo sighed. "Damn it, we're lost, aren't we?" he grumbled in irritation.

"Ah, yes," Hakkai admitted cheerfully. "A detailed map would be nice, but all we have to work with is a circle in the middle of the woods."

Gojyo blinked, fuzzy memories of the night before floating up to the surface of his mind. "More detailed map…" he muttered. Then he reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled out the map he'd won from the half-breed woman. He'd already been pretty wasted when she'd shown up, but that hadn't been enough to impair his gambling skills.

He unfolded the sheet of paper and squinted at it. It showed a few game trails, a cliff wall, and something that looked like a giant rock. Or possibly a sea monster. He turned it around a couple of times, trying to figure it out, then noticed the writing in one of the corners.

_Gojyo,_

_Give the map to Hakkai, dumbass._

_Love,_

_Reishu_

"Keh," he snorted and held the map out toward his friend. "Yo, Hakkai, I think this might help."

Hakkai took the paper, frowning slightly as he studied it. "Where did you get this?"

"Won it off a redheaded chick. I think I told you about her." He vaguely remembered it, along with something weird about turning into a woman.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us you had that?" Sanzo asked irritably.

"Ah… I forgot," Gojyo said, bracing himself for what he knew was coming. _God, this is gonna hurt._

"You for…" the monk growled. He twitched, the vein in his forehead pulsing slightly. "Useless moron!" He pulled out the fan and smacked Gojyo upside the head with it a couple of times.

"Goddamn bitchy monk!" the redhead snarled. He immediately regretted it. He barely managed to dart over to some bushes and drop to his knees before spitting out his Hi-Lite and throwing up. Someone, probably Hakkai, knelt beside him and pulled his hair back so it wouldn't get messy.

"Kyuu?" A scaly head rubbed against his cheek, followed by a small tongue.

"Guh…hah…." Gojyo reached up and scratched under Hakuryu's chin with one hand while wiping at his mouth with the other.

"We should find a good place to rest up and have lunch, Sanzo," Hakkai said. "It wouldn't be fair to make the villagers feed Goku any more than necessary. Plus it will give me a chance to study this map."

Sanzo sighed and lit a cigarette. "All right," he finally agreed after taking a long drag. "And see if you can do something about that idiot's hangover. He deserves it, but at this rate, he probably will end up puking on me. Then I'd have to kill him, and I'd have to carry around two lighters."

"Keh." Gojyo slowly got to his feet and glanced at the monk. "And we can't have the great and wonderful Master Sanzo inconvenienced," he drawled sarcastically.

"Damn straight," Sanzo said. He smirked and blew smoke in the other man's face before turning to lead the hunt for a short-term camp site.

* * *

The break took longer than Sanzo was happy with, but it served its purpose. The monkey was temporarily sated, Gojyo was no longer suffering the well-deserved effects of his drunken binge, and Hakkai had figured out the map.

Or at least that was what the brunet youkai had claimed. Sanzo doubted it briefly when they reached a dead end at the base of a cliff. Then he felt the telltale energy signature of an illusion barrier.

"Hm. The map shows this as our destination," Hakkai said, frowning slightly. His expression suddenly turned thoughtful. "Of course, Reishu did say-"

He was cut off by Gojyo's low whistle of appreciation. "Damn, this place is impressive," he said, looking at the cliff face with obvious admiration.

Goku laughed at him. "It's just a cliff, Gojyo. You're so lame sometimes."

Gojyo looked at him incredulously. "Teacher," he called out in a singsong tone. "The monkey needs to see the nurse. His case of stupid just got a lot worse."

"You take that back, pervy kappa!" Goku demanded, scowling.

"Why don't you make me, tiny chimp?" the redhead taunted.

Sanzo tuned them out, focusing on the solid wall of rock before them. As he concentrated, the image wavered slightly, showing a hint of the reality behind the illusion.

"Gojyo, what do you see?" he asked, cutting into the moronic argument.

"Eh?" the kappa blinked at him, then his eyes widened slightly in sudden comprehension. He had his moments of colossal idiocy, but in general, he was able to catch onto things fairly quickly. Well, quicker than Goku anyway, which wasn't saying much. "A hugeass wooden wall with a buncha giant trees behind it."

"Huh?" Goku looked back and forth between the cliff, Gojyo, and Sanzo, utterly bewildered. "Am I the only one who sees a cliff?" he asked unhappily. He couldn't stand being left out of things.

"No," Sanzo answered shortly. "I see a cliff because I'm human. You and Hakkai see a cliff because you're youkai."

"But Gojyo's a youkai too," Goku protested, still confused. "How come he sees something different? Is it because he's a nasty pervert?"

Gojyo rolled his eyes. "Half human, dork brain, remember?" He rapped his knuckles against the monkey's head, clicking his tongue a couple of times to simulate the sound of something hollow. "That's why I've been persona non grata around these parts."

"Persa what?"

"It means an unwelcome person, Goku," Hakkai said, slipping easily into teacher mode. "Though it's the youkai half that's making Gojyo unwelcome, not the human."

"Nn. Yeah, well, whatever," Gojyo mumbled uncomfortably, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking at the ground.

Sanzo grunted softly and turned his attention back to the illusion. He'd be glad when they were out of the region. Despite his myriad other flaws, Gojyo was pretty good at keeping his fucked up issues to himself, where they belonged, when his mixed heritage and shitty childhood weren't constantly being shoved in his face.

"Hey, shit for brains, if it doesn't interfere too much with your little angst fest, think you could, oh, I don't know, maybe tell us if there's a way in?" he asked.

Gojyo glared at him. "Asshole," he muttered. Then he glanced around. "Ah, yeah."

The half-breed strode toward the cliff and grabbed a vine, tugging hard. There were several loud bird calls, but, since he knew it was illusion, Sanzo was able to just barely make out the ringing of a bell.

A few minutes later, there was a rustling sound from a tree near the cliff. Sanzo tensed, only relaxing slightly when Reishu jumped down from the tree, the two thin braids behind her ears bouncing as she landed.

"I suppose you boys want in?" she asked unhappily.

Sanzo frowned slightly, studying her body language. She was tense and agitated, and clearly didn't want them around. Which didn't make any sense, considering they never would have found the place if not for her map.

"No, we just thought we'd stand here like idiots and admire the scenery," he said sarcastically. Hakkai, no doubt, could have sweet talked her into a more welcoming mood, but the monk had always preferred riling people up if possible. It was faster.

The left side of her mouth quirked up in an evil little smile. "Well, in that case, I'll leave you to it." She turned toward the illusion barrier.

"Wait, Miss Reishu," Hakkai called, shooting Sanzo an exasperated look. "We would, indeed, like to enter your village. I believe you mentioned something about payment of some sort?"

Reishu turned back to face them, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yes, I did. I also said that I wouldn't push things if request gets turned down. After what happened yesterday, the deal has changed. If you boys want in, you have to agree to what I want."

"And if we don't?" Sanzo asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Then you can haul your asses right back the way you came to get equipment for traveling through the pass. It's a nasty and treacherous path, with a lot of narrow places where only one person can walk through at a time."

"Hn." Part of him wanted to just turn back without even hearing what she wanted, but an even larger part was dead set against any unnecessary delays. It couldn't hurt to at least hear her out. "What do you want?"

"I don't like humans or youkai," Reishu said bluntly.

"Lovely sentiment," Sanzo said dryly. "I don't like humans or youkai either. Or anything in between for that matter. What does that have to do with anything?"

"I don't like humans or youkai," she repeated, "but sometimes a woman likes a little… companionship now and then."

"Oh, hell no," Sanzo growled, just barely avoiding drawing his gun. Gojyo annoyed the hell out of him half the time – and the other half he was asleep – and seemed to get some sort of perverse pleasure out of pissing him off, but that didn't mean he was willing to whore the man out.

The subject of his thoughts laughed suddenly and moved in beside him, resting an elbow on his shoulder. "Aw, it's sweet of you to try to protect my virtue, but I'm willing to take one for the team in this case."

"Keh. Whatever," the monk muttered, shoving Gojyo away from him. "Whore yourself out for all I care."

"I'm not a whore," the redhead protested in indignation. Then he grinned cheerfully. "I'm a slut. Women would willingly pay for the Sha Gojyo experience, but I'm such a nice guy that I give it out for free."

Reishu laughed while Goku made gagging sounds. Sanzo sympathized with the monkey, wondering what power Gojyo had that made otherwise sensible women find him inexplicably charming.

"And would you 'give it for free' to someone like me despite my looks?" she asked, her single eye gleaming with both amusement and challenge.

"Hell, I'd do it _because_ of your looks. Your hairstyle is a bit… um… unique, but you're pretty damn hot." She shot him a disbelieving look, and he continued. "Hey, I may have a lot of flaws, but hypocrisy ain't one of 'em. If I thought a few facial scars made a person hideous, I'd run around with a sack over my head, being as moody and bitter as the damn monk."

Reishu smiled softly, her eye locking on the barely noticeable lines half hidden behind his hair. Then she reached out to lightly pat him on the head. "You're a sweet kid. Come on." She turned and walked into the rock wall, vanishing from sight.

Gojyo winced slightly at being called a kid, but followed after her. He glanced over his shoulder at the rest of them. "Gate's open," he said before disappearing as well.

As they passed through the boundaries of the illusion barrier, Sanzo couldn't help being impressed. The wall was roughly eight feet thick and enveloped a place that looked more like a park than a village.

"Welcome to the Village of Taboo," Reishu said, giving them a moment to look around.

A couple of dozen or so children ranging from about four to twelve ran through a big grassy clearing and played in a pond while some older children and a few women kept an eye on them. Except for two large buildings at ground level near the gate, everything was built into the giant trees that surrounded the clearing.

"It's beautiful," Hakkai murmured in appreciation. He smiled warmly at Reishu. "It seems like a perfect place for children to grow up."

"There aren't enough adults to give them the individual attention they need, but we try our best to keep them happy and healthy," she said quietly.

A group of five children ran past, playing with a brightly colored ball. The child in control of the toy dropped it and froze when he saw the four strangers. The ball bounced toward them, slowing to a roll before coming to a stop at Sanzo's feet. He slowly knelt down and scooped it up, a little unnerved by all the bright crimson eyes staring at him in something close to fear.

_Shit,_ he thought unhappily. Kids had a tendency to annoy him, but he didn't like the thought of a bunch of little brats being terrified of him.

The children shifted uneasily as he held the ball out, but none of them were brave enough to approach. Finally, a little girl, her long red hair pulled up in a pair of high pigtails, took a few steps toward him. She didn't come any closer though, and Sanzo was thinking of just handing the damn ball over to Reishu.

Then Gojyo dropped down into a squat beside him and patted him on the head. "Don't worry, princess, he's a _good_ human. And I trained him myself, so he won't bite at all."

The girl giggled and darted forward, grabbing the ball before taking off with her friends.

"When we leave here, you are dead," Sanzo muttered as he stood up, glaring murderously at Gojyo.

"I know," the redhead chirped, straightening from his crouch and smirking at him. "But it was so fuckin' worth it."

"You guys are so weird," Reishu said, clearly amused.

Hakkai laughed. "Indeed. Ah, Miss Reishu, if you don't mind me asking, why were you so upset about us being here? You practically invited us the last time we met and then left a map for Gojyo."

She sighed wearily. "A youkai showed up yesterday. Said his name was Dokugakuji."

Gojyo made a small sound of dismay, but his expression was perfectly blank when Reishu glanced back at him. "You killed him?" he asked, his voice equally neutral.

Reishu cocked her head slightly. "No, actually. He was in control of himself, and the kid he was with got upset at the thought of him being hurt. He's sticking around until she's settled. He also said that he was going to wait and see if his little brother showed up. I'm assuming he was talking about you."

Gojyo nodded jerkily. "Heh. Yeah. He's not much of a brother, but he's mi- OOF!" He was cut off as something slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. The something turned out to be a very happy little girl. "K-Kyoko!"

"Kyoko, you're alive!" Goku shouted, practically squirming with joy.

"Doody head!" the little girl called out cheerfully.

"Eh?" Goku slumped in dejection. "Aw man, she's still calling me that."

Sanzo snorted and took the time to light a cigarette since it didn't seem like they'd be moving any time soon. He was glad the kid wasn't dead, of course, but he felt no need to express it. Dumb and Dumber were already fawning all over her, and even Hakkai was making his relief obvious.

"How'd you get here, kid?" Gojyo asked.

"I brought her." Dokugakuji stepped out from one of the large buildings and approached them. A half-breed woman followed, watching him warily. "Good to see you again, brat," he said, reaching down to affectionately ruffle Gojyo's hair.

"Hey, quit it, assface!" Gojyo growled, swiping at his brother's hand.

"Where are your friends?" Sanzo asked, tensing. Reishu had mentioned only Dokugaku, but if the others were anywhere in the vicinity, Lirin would no doubt show up. Being sat on by a hyperactive kitten child was not something he was looking forward to.

"Back at the castle as far as I know," Dokugaku answered. "I volunteered to bring Kyoko here while they headed home."

"Hn. I'm surprised you'd go out of your way to travel around with a little child of taboo kid," Gojyo muttered.

Dokugaku frowned and started to say something, but he was cut off by Kyoko.

"Gojyo, do you know when Mommy will be better and come to get me?" she asked.

He looked away, then took a deep breath and looked straight into her eyes. "She's-"

"She's dead," Sanzo said quietly. He had been the one to kill the woman; it was only right for him to be the one to tell her child.

Kyoko turned her head to stare at him in wide-eyed incomprehension. Then she pressed her face against Gojyo's chest and cried.

"I'm sorry, princess," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

One of the two ground-level buildings was a play room and communal bedroom for the younger children, the two sections separated by a curtain. Gojyo carried Kyoko into the sleeping area and settled her onto one of the small cots. It was only early evening, but the emotional trauma had worn her out.

_Poor kid,_ he thought, tucking her in and gently stroking her hair. At least she'd been spared having to see her mother killed right in front of her. That would have fucked her up for a good long while, though she wouldn't have been left to fend for herself afterwards.

He heard a small sound and glanced over his shoulder. His brother was standing near the curtain, half hidden in the shadows of the nearly dark room. He had an odd expression, lost somewhere between sadness and affection.

"Gojyo," he said quietly. "Come with me for a bit. We need to talk."

Gojyo looked back at Kyoko. She wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, and when she did, it'd be better if one of the village women was with her. She was already attached enough to him that he was pretty sure it was going to break her heart when he had to leave.

"Nn. Sure," he said, giving the girl a soft kiss on the forehead before standing up. She was too deeply asleep to even notice, but it seemed wrong to just wander off without some sort of goodbye gesture.

He and Dokugaku left the nursery building, walking together in quiet companionship until they reached the pond. All of the children were in the other large building for dinner, leaving the area deserted except for the two of them as the sun began to slowly set.

"What did you want to talk about?" Gojyo asked, gazing to the west as he lit a Hi-Lite. The cigarette was almost immediately snatched from his mouth.

"Still smoking Mom's brand, huh?" Dokugaku said after a slow drag.

"Asshole," Gojyo muttered, taking another cigarette from his pack. Rather than getting his lighter out again, he leaned in toward his brother and held the tip of his cigarette against the one that'd been stolen from him. "I thought you quit or something."

"For the most part," Dokugaku said, blowing out a stream of smoke. "Every once in a while, I'll light up just to relax for a bit, though."

They were both silent for a few moments. Gojyo had no idea what Dokugaku wanted to talk to him about. He supposed most siblings would reminisce about their childhoods and talk about their lives. While there had been some good times, their shared past had been dominated by their mother and was filled with more painful memories than good. And as for talking about the present…. Well, they were technically enemies; they couldn't really tell each other what they'd been up to.

Dokugaku finally sighed and started to speak. "About what you said earlier…" His words trailed off, as if he was uncertain of what he wanted to say.

Gojyo winced slightly. "Yeah, man, sorry about that. It hurt being left behind with her corpse, but I understand why you did it. You were only eighteen, little more than a kid really, and you'd just killed your own mother. You couldn't deal, so you took off."

"That's… that's not why I left you behind," Dokugaku said quietly.

"…oh." Gojyo had often wondered if he'd been abandoned because his brother couldn't stand the thought of being around him anymore. He couldn't blame him, it was his fault Mom had gone insane and made their lives hell, but he wasn't particularly happy to have it confirmed.

"I regret that I had to kill her, but I don't regret the actual deed. Your life was more precious to me than hers, and if I had to do it again, I would. I'd also leave you behind again. I couldn't trust myself around you anymore, not after what I did to you the night before that."

"Er… what?" Gojyo asked, glancing at him uneasily. He didn't know what the hell Dokugaku was talking about, but it made him feel uncomfortable.

"You don't remember." Dokugaku closed his eyes, clearly struggling with something.

Gojyo almost told him to just let it go, that there was no point in stirring up memories that were safely buried away, but the other man obviously did remember whatever it was and needed to talk about it.

Dokugaku took a deep breath and opened his eyes. "Mom wanted to kill you that day because she saw me try to molest you the night before," he said bluntly.

"…That's not fucking funny, Jien," Gojyo said shakily, rattled enough he slipped and used his brother's old name. He didn't want to believe it, but it didn't seem like the sort of thing Dokugaku would just make up. And it explained a fragment of memory that occasionally haunted his nightmares.

"It's not some sick joke, Gojyo. I pinned you down and kissed you. I would have gone a lot further than that if I hadn't come to my senses. I had to leave you behind to keep you safe from me."

_He's in bed, and the terrible creaking and moaning from the next room has finally ceased. Jien slips into bed beside him, smelling like her, and he curls up against his older brother, feeling safe even though Jien has been acting a little weird lately._

_Jien pets his hair and…._

Even after what Dokugaku had just told him, his mind refused to acknowledge anything beyond that point. He quietly watched the sun sink below the horizon, unsure what to think or feel.

Being pinned and kissed didn't really sound all that bad, especially considering some of the shit he did remember, but he supposed the fact that it involved Jien made it more painful to contemplate. His brother had been his protector and the only person who had given a damn about him. The thought of him doing anything to him made about as much sense as the sun turning green or the sky brown.

"Say something," Dokugaku blurted suddenly.

Gojyo stared at him blankly for a moment. He really couldn't think of anything meaningful, so he went with the first thing to pop into his head. "Huh… wow…. That's just… that's just really fuckin' pathetic, man," he said flippantly, finishing his cigarette and immediately lighting another. "You should seriously be ashamed. You must be a really lousy kisser if it makes people repress memories of it."

"Damn it, Gojyo!" Dokugaku growled, grabbing his shoulder.

Gojyo jerked away from him, glaring angrily. What he'd been told still didn't truly feel real to him. At least, nowhere near as real as the pain and loneliness of being abandoned. "What the hell do you want me to say? That now that you've explained, I think leaving me behind was the right thing? Sorry, but I _don't_ think that. You stopped yourself, Jien, and Mom was dead. She couldn't fuck you up anymore than she already had. You would have been less likely to do anything, not more, fuckin' dumbass."

"There's no way of knowing that for sure."

"Do you have any fucking idea what happens to kids left to fend for themselves on the streets?" Gojyo hissed angrily. Part of him was viciously pleased by the look of sick horror on the other man's face. The rest of him felt like a total jackass.

"Oh, god… you were…." Dokugaku stared down at the ground. "You were such a cute, resourceful kid," he said hoarsely. "I always told myself you'd be able to charm you way into a good family once you found a place where they didn't know you were a child of taboo."

Gojyo sighed, his anger draining away at the sight of his brother's pain. "It'd serve you right if I let you think I was attacked by pervs, but, no, I wasn't." He slung his arm around Dokugaku's shoulders, smiling reassuringly. "Come on, bro, let's see if they got anything for adults to drink in this glorified daycare."

"Mm. Yeah," Dokugaku said, smiling back.

"I actually ended up as the personal errand boy of the madam of a whorehouse. It was awesome, and, no offense, she was a hell of a lot prettier than you…. And apparently a better kisser."

Dokugaku snorted and lightly smacked him upside the head. Then they headed off together in search of alcohol.

* * *

_Four days after being left behind by the two most important people in his life, a young boy crouches defensively in an alley. He's cold and exhausted and the two infected cuts across his left cheek throb with pain._

_He pants for breath, watching the man who slowly approaches him. The man's companions are on the ground, one feebly whimpering in pain as he clutches the pitiful remains of his manhood. The other is still and quiet, a broken beer bottle rammed into his gut._

_"I'm gonna have to kill you, little rat," the man says. "But first, I think I'm gonna have a bit of fun. Teach you a lesson before I send you on to the next life."_

_"I'll just bite yours off too," the boy snarls, glaring defiantly. They both know he doesn't really have the energy to do anything, but he isn't just going to quietly give in._

_The man just laughs and pins the boy face down. "Sorry, rat, but you don't got no teeth where I'm going."_

_It hurts, but the boy doesn't scream. People have hurt him his entire life. He's tired of it. He's tired of everything really…._

_He's only vaguely aware of anything when there's a loud thump followed by a strangled cry from above him. The pain stops, and he drifts off into the soft embrace of unconsciousness._


	11. Chapter 11

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter Eleven**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Author's Note:** The last scene of chapter ten won't be addressed much for the rest of this particular story, but I do have a prequel of sorts planned. It will be my take on what happened to Gojyo after he was abandoned with his stepmother's corpse.

* * *

A few hours after his talk with Dokugakuji, Gojyo stood on the balcony of Reishu's tree house, leaning against the railing and smoking. He would be spending the night with the leader of the village while the others, including his brother, were stuck in the communal tree house for boys over ten with Kishou and an eleven-year-old.

He watched the smoke from his cigarette drift away on the light breeze, thinking about what he'd learned. He sighed and shook his head. He still had no idea how to feel about it, mostly because it still didn't seem real.

Being beaten by the only mother he knew had been real. Watching his brother run off and leave him with a corpse had been real. Hell, even being assaulted by a perverted, jackass stranger had been real, though his rescuer had always claimed he didn't react to it the way a normal person would have. But Jien slobbering all over him or something in the middle of the night? That wasn't real. It was incomprehensible nonsense.

He sighed again and stubbed out the remains of his cigarette. As he lit a new one, he heard the soft sound of someone else coming out onto the balcony.

"You ever think of quitting?" Reishu asked as she leaned her back against the railing next to him. Her tone was conversational and curious rather than judgmental.

"Heh. Every damn time I have to run," he answered, looking at her. The mostly cropped hair was still a little odd, but the moonlight showed a softer side of her than the harsh light of day, emphasizing the gentle caretaker instead of the hardened warrior.

She laughed softly and gazed up at the sky. "Look there," she said, pointing toward a faint smear of red. "That's the Blood Comet. This is the first of five nights that it'll be visible. The third night is when we'll all turn into youkai."

"What will you do when that happens?"

"I don't know. Be a youkai for the night, I guess," she said, shrugging. "I was only able to get two limiters. I gave one to you, and the other to Akako, since she'll be guarding the human town."

Gojyo tensed at the mention of the limiter, then took a deep drag of his cigarette, the hit of nicotine calming him a little. "I don't need a limiter," he said quietly. More truthfully, he just didn't want one. He really had no way of knowing if his youkai self would be susceptible to the Minus Wave or not.

"If you were meant to be a youkai, you would have been born one." Reishu's tone was blunt, but compassionate. "Is one night as something you're not and can never be again really worth whatever damage you may cause?"

He shivered slightly as she stared at him, her one eye seeming to pierce through him and look directly at his heart and soul. He wanted to say no, that it wasn't worth it, but he couldn't while she held him trapped in her gaze – because it would be a lie. If it was left to him, he wouldn't use the limiter, and afterwards, he would despise himself even more than usual, even if he kept control and didn't hurt anyone.

Finally, she looked away, turning to lean her arms along the rail. "He certainly is pretty for a human," she said, scowling downward.

Gojyo blinked in confusion, unsettled and slightly dazed. He shook it off and looked over the edge, grateful for her abrupt change of topic. Sanzo stood at the base of one of the other trees, smoking a Marlboro.

Gojyo snorted. "He's pretty for an anything, and the unholy bastard knows it."

Reishu glanced at him in surprise. "You're interested in men?"

He laughed in genuine amusement and grinned at her, his gloomy thoughts and uncertain feelings banished for the time being. "Hell no, but I'm secure enough in my masculinity to appreciate a pretty dude. I like to look, but I don't have any interest in touching. I'm just not wired that way," he said, shrugging. "Don't have anything against those who are, though. As long as they leave me the fuck alone, the rest of the guys in the world can be as queer as they want." He flashed her a seductive look. "It just means more chicks for me."

Reishu smirked. "You shouldn't admit that so openly," she teased. "There are lots of women who are attracted to gay men."

"Hm. You may have a point there. Maybe I should embrace my inner homo." He took another long drag from his cigarette, then abruptly whirled to face her, taking her hand in his. "I have a confession to make," he said dramatically. "I… am a lesbian."

"Uh-huh," she looked him over, her single eye sparkling with barely suppressed laughter. "You look pretty male to me."

"Well, yeah, I'm like totally butch, you know?" he said, pitching his voice high while twirling a lock of hair around his finger.

That was too much for Reishu. She started laughing.

Gojyo took another drag from his cigarette, smiling as he remembered an odd bit of conversation from his drunken ramblings the night before. "If I ever somehow turned into a woman, I think I'd be a lesbian, despite all the girly hormones. I'm physically attracted to women, but I'm mentally attracted to them too. Women are like cats," he said with a soft, almost dreamy expression. "Sleek, graceful, playful, and soft. And if you stroke them just right, they'll purr for you."

"If women are cats, then what are men?" Reishu asked reasonably.

Gojyo blinked, then opened his mouth and closed it again, cocking his head as he thought about it. Dogs came immediately to mind, but they were soft and cuddly too. "I have no fucking idea," he admitted "Maybe… turtles? They're hard and not really interesting to pet."

"Uh-huh…. So, if you're a boring, dull turtle, why should I have anything to do with you?"

"Because I'm a pretty turtle, with a very hard shell. And I'm a lesbian, remember? So if you stroke me just right, I'll purr for you," he said in a low, seductive voice that was very nearly a purr.

"Is that so?" she asked huskily, pushing away from the railing and moving closer to him. "I may just have to test that."

She took his cigarette and snuffed it out before tossing it away. Then she led him into her bedroom. He'd gone through it on his way out to the balcony, but he hadn't really looked around. It was a fairly normal bedroom, for the most part, other than the large chest near the closet and the weird hook hanging from the ceiling above the bed.

"Interesting décor," he said, staring at the hook. _Okay, that has some pretty kinky possibilities._

"Oh, yes, very interesting," Reishu purred. Then she turned and gazed at him, once again seeming to look into his soul. "My mother was an empath. I can't do what she could, but I can read hearts. I can tell what people want. You want a woman who will love you, keep you, and hurt you. I can't keep you, but I love all of my own kind, in my own way. And I can definitely hurt you."

He moved backwards as she slowly approached him. "I…." He swallowed hard as he hit the wall.

She closed the small distance between them and reached out to gently cup his cheek. "Do you want me to hurt you, Gojyo?" she asked huskily.

He shuddered, dark desire filling him at the thought. "…Yes."

* * *

From the shadows of the balcony across from Reishu's tree house, a lone figure watched as she led Gojyo inside. Dokugakuji sighed softly, hoping she'd be able to distract his brother from the memories that had been stirred up.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, wishing his words could travel back in time and space to the little boy who had suffered so much because of him.

_The brat never could hide a lie from me,_ he thought sadly.

* * *

Hakkai poked distractedly at his food the next day, wondering if Gojyo would join them anytime soon. He sighed and told himself to stop worrying. It was a little after noon, but Gojyo probably wasn't even awake yet. Even assuming his assignation with Reishu had ended at a reasonable hour, the redhead was a night owl and tended to revert to his preferred sleep cycle if left to his own devices. Hakkai was well aware of that, but recent events had left him feeling somewhat overprotective of his former – and most likely future – roommate.

He sighed again, then smiled as he caught sight of something that distracted him from his worried thoughts. The little pigtailed girl from the day before was sitting two tables away, staring intently at Sanzo. At the start of lunch, she'd been on the other side of the room.

"It seems you have an admirer, Sanzo," he said cheerfully.

The blond grunted in irritation, continuing to reread the paper from the last town. He had to have known that Gojyo's nocturnal… activities… would cause a delay, but he clearly wasn't happy about it.

"Hee, Sanzo's got a girlfriend!" Goku chanted happily, pausing briefly from stuffing his face. Without Gojyo there to compete with him for food, the young man was actually eating at a fairly leisurely pace. Well, for him anyway.

Sanzo's hands tightened on his paper, but he showed no other outward sign of having heard Goku.

Hakkai chuckled softly and offered Hakuryu a small chunk torn from a steamed bun. His habitual smile widened slightly as he saw movement from the corner of his eye. The little girl was now seated at the table beside theirs.

"Come on, kids, time to get back to your lessons," one of the women called.

While most of the children hurried toward the door, their exit slowed by a couple of people coming in, Sanzo's young admirer darted toward them. She rose up on her toes and kissed the unsuspecting monk on the cheek before scampering off to join the others.

Goku almost choked on his food, and a familiar laugh sounded from just behind Sanzo.

"Seems like I wasn't the only one to attract the attention of a pretty redhead," Gojyo said, leaning forward to rest his arm on Sanzo's shoulder.

There was a soft click as Sanzo pressed the barrel of his gun under the half-breed's chin and thumbed the hammer back. "Die," he growled through clenched teeth, his angry glare daring anyone to comment on the fact that his cheeks were almost as red as Gojyo's hair.

Gojyo laughed again and backed away, holding his hands up in surrender. "Sorry, man, not in the mood to kick the bucket right now," he said, circling around to the other side of the table. He gingerly sat next to Goku, careful to lean his weight forward onto his thighs.

"Your night went well, I take it?" Hakkai asked, smiling warmly in greeting. The man looked like he'd been in a fight – there was bruising at the corners of his mouth and around his neck along with what looked like a whip welt mostly hidden beneath one of the sleeves of his tank top – but his eyes held a look of peaceful contentment. Reishu had clearly injured him extensively, but it was equally obvious that she hadn't done anything to him that he hadn't enjoyed.

"What the hell happened to you?" Goku asked, staring wide-eyed at Gojyo.

The redhead smirked. "Sorry, kid, but if I answered that, your owner really would shoot me," he said, reaching over to snag a spring roll from Goku's plate instead of something from one of the platters of in the middle of the table.

"Hey, that's mine! Give it back!" Goku demanded, lunging toward his purloined food.

Gojyo laughed, easily holding the boy back by pressing a hand against his forehead. "Okay, okay, you can have it back," he said with a wicked little grin. Then he licked the spring roll from one end to the other. "Here you go, little chimp."

"Eeeeeww!" Goku jerked back, his nose wrinkling in disgust.

"Eat it, monkey! Eat it!" Gojyo chanted gleefully, holding the boy lightly by the hair while trying to force the spring roll into his mouth.

It was good to see them playing together and squabbling like siblings. Despite Sanzo's thoughts to the contrary, Gojyo only really allowed himself to act like a child around Goku, and even then only when he felt comfortable enough for it. The bouts of juvenile behavior could be quite aggravating for those traveling with him, but Hakkai thought it was a rather good thing. From what he'd heard of Gojyo's childhood, the half-breed had never really had a chance to just be a kid.

"I liked him better when he was moody," Sanzo grumbled from the depths of his newspaper, breaking into Hakkai's thoughts.

Hakkai laughed. "Yes, well, I suppose it was much quieter, wasn't it?"

"Nuh-uh!" Goku whined, shaking his head. "I'm not eating it. I don't know where your nasty tongue has been!"

Gojyo smirked. "Hee hee hee. It's been off all night doing naughty things to a very naughty lady."

"Telling tales now, are we, Gojyo?" Reishu asked, sauntering from the kitchen with a mug of coffee in one hand. She absently buried the other in Gojyo's hair, petting him. "If I recall correctly, I had you gagged all night. The youngsters tend to think I'm ancient, but twenty-seven really is a bit young to be going senile."

Gojyo actually blushed slightly at that and ducked his head like a child who had been caught sneaking into the cookie jar.

"Heh. Gojyo's younger than that, and he forgets stuff all the time," Goku said before distractedly chomping on the spring roll still being held near his face.

Gojyo yipped and pulled his bitten fingers out of Goku's mouth. "Damn it, monkey! What have I told you about trying to eat me?"

"Shorry," Goku mumbled around his food, not sounding the least bit apologetic.

"Hmmph. And I don't forget stuff. I just like to selectively remember things. I gotta keep lots of room up here for remembering all the lovely ladies I meet," Gojyo said, lightly tapping the side of his head.

"Hn." Sanzo finally folded up his paper and put his reading glasses away. "We'll be leaving once the morons finish eating," he said, looking up at Reishu. "What's the terrain like between here and the pass?"

"Dense forest for the most part. If you just try to force your way through it, it'll take roughly four days," Reishu answered, taking a sip of her coffee. "There is a footpath that cuts it down to two days, but it's warded like the village, so Gojyo's the only one of you who will be able to see it."

"Damn it," Sanzo muttered, frowning in irritation at the thought of Gojyo temporarily being in charge of their route. His eyes narrowed suddenly. "When is the Blood Comet going to start affecting him?"

It was Gojyo who answered, rather than Reishu. "Tomorrow night," he said casually, reaching over to snag a meat bun from Goku's plate.

"Hey! Get your own food, jackass!"

"Shut it, monkey. It's because of me they even let you in here, so the least you could do is share." He took a bite of the bun before turning his attention back to Sanzo. "You should give that limiter back to Reishu. She might need it if someone here gets too crazy."

"Uh, no, not going to happen," Sanzo said. "Most of the people here are kids and won't be a problem. You, on the other hand, will probably go nuts right away, and I doubt your powers will be quite so pathetic as a full youkai."

Gojyo slammed his hands down on the table, pushing himself up to his feet and glaring at Sanzo. The two of them got into verbal spats all the time, but this time Gojyo's eyes gleamed with real anger. "Look, asshole, I've got a pretty good sense of self, and my self-control isn't that bad when I actually give a shit about maintaining it."

Sanzo's response to that was a lightning fast movement that had him on his feet with the barrel of his gun against Gojyo's forehead before the other man could even react. "If you lose yourself, I'll have to kill you," he said evenly, thumbing the hammer back. "It'd be a hell of a lot easier to go ahead and do it now. So, what's it going to be? Am I going to just shoot you and get it over with, or are you going to shut the fuck up about the damn limiter and wear it like a good boy tomorrow night?"

Hakkai tensed, preparing to intervene as Gojyo's eyes narrowed. He knew Sanzo didn't really want to kill Gojyo, though the monk would never admit it, but that wouldn't stop him if he felt it was necessary to their survival. If Hakkai didn't figure out a way to quickly resolve the situation, things would likely go very bad very fast.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and relaxed. The two who had just come in would be able to diffuse things much more efficiently than he could.

"Gojyo!" Kyoko yelled in alarm, attempting to run to him.

Dokugakuji gently pulled her back to his side and gazed at Sanzo with narrowed eyes. "I know he can be a real brat at times, but do you honestly think pointing a gun at my brother in a village full of kids is really a good idea?"

Gojyo closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath, visibly getting a hold of himself. When he opened them again, they were clear, without a trace of anger. "Hey, Kyoko," he said, waving at her as he backed away from the barrel of Sanzo's gun. "Sanzo's just being a grumpy prick today. If you ignore him, maybe he'll go away."

"Tch. That's _my_ line," the blond grumbled, tucking his gun back into his robe. Hakkai knew the situation was far from resolved, but Sanzo was apparently willing to put it aside for the moment. "Hurry up and eat, monkey," he said, glancing at Goku. "We're leaving in five minutes."

"Waa!" Goku began to hurriedly devour the leftovers as Sanzo strode toward the door and left the building.

"Be careful not to choke, Goku," Hakkai said distractedly, watching as Gojyo approached Kyoko and his brother.

"Are you really going to leave, Gojyo?" the little girl asked despondently.

Gojyo sighed and gently ruffled her hair. "Come on, kid, we need to have a talk," he said, taking her by the hand and leading her away. He glanced over his shoulder. "You come too, Jien."

Dokugakuji nodded and followed them over to the other side of the room. Hakkai could have surreptitiously moved closer to overhear them, but eavesdropping on their private conversation would have been both rude and unnecessary.

Instead, the human-turned-youkai stood and walked over to Reishu, careful to position himself to her left so she could see him. The woman had remained calm and quiet during the confrontation between Sanzo and Gojyo, doing no more than staring intently at the monk before proceeding to ignore them.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

Reishu raised a brow and glanced at him. "If you mean for not interfering, it's because I could tell Grouchy didn't really want to shoot him. If he had, I would have been forced to get… unpleasant." She bared her teeth in a bloodthirsty grin.

Hakkai smiled and laughed softly. "No doubt, though that wasn't what I was thanking you for. Last night was meant to be payment for our stay here, but – his altercation with Sanzo notwithstanding – Gojyo has been in a much better mood this afternoon than he has been lately."

Reishu gazed at him for a moment – almost as if she we staring right into him – and smiled. "You love him."

"Ah-ha-ha…. We _are_ very good friends, but we don't have that sort of relationship." He and Gojyo joked around about such things at times, but it was still very odd to have someone assume they were lovers.

Reishu snorted and waved her hand in a negating gesture. "I'm not implying you two sleep together or even that you secretly want to. Love and sex have nothing to do with each other. I mean, you'd love a sibling, but you wouldn't want to have sex with them, right?"

"Um…. Yes, well…." He trailed off with a nervous laugh, thinking of his sister. Thoughts of Kanan still made him sad, but they didn't hurt quite as much as they used to.

"… I don't want to know, do I?" Reishu asked, sounding wryly amused rather than disgusted or judgmental.

"Uh, no, probably not." Her reaction pleased him. He had grown somewhat fond of her, and while a negative view on her part wouldn't have any real impact on him, he would have been quite disappointed.

"Didn't think so. That doesn't change my point, though. You can have sex without love, and can love truly and deeply without any desire for sex."

"You do have a point," Hakkai admitted.

Reishu smiled at him again and lightly squeezed his shoulder. "I have to get the new kid settled and get things ready to head back out with Kishou in a couple of days," she said, starting toward the door. "Good luck on your journey."

Once she was gone, Hakkai turned his attention to Gojyo once more. The other man was crouched in front of Kyoko, putting himself down at her level as he talked to her. The little girl seemed to be crying. Concerned, Hakkai moved forward until he could hear their conversation.

"…but there is one thing I can promise you," Gojyo said. "After this trip, if I ever get to a point in my life where I can take care of a kid, I'll come get you, okay?"

Kyoko sniffled and wiped at her eyes. "Okay," she said.

Gojyo pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back. "I'm sorry I've got to leave so soon, princess. Dokugaku can probably stay with you for a little bit, though," he said, glancing up at his brother.

The tall youkai nodded. "I need to get back to Kou soon, but I can stay with her for another day or two while she gets settled."

Gojyo pushed Kyoko back a little and kissed her on the forehead. "Bye for now, kiddo," he said, standing up.

"Goodbye," Kyoko mumbled through fresh tears, hugging Dokugakuji's leg as Gojyo walked away.

"Come on, Goku," he called. "Your owner is already bitchy enough as it is."

"O-ay," Goku said around the last of the food. He swallowed and jumped to his feet. "Bye Kyoko, Dokugaku," he said cheerfully before running outside to find Sanzo.

Hakkai waited for Gojyo to reach him, then fell into step beside him as they too left the building. "I hope that day comes," he said quietly.

"Huh?" Gojyo blinked at him in confusion.

"You'd make an excellent father," Hakkai clarified. Other than a lack of disciplinary skills, Gojyo was quite good with children.

The redhead snorted and grinned at him. "You're just saying that because you know you'd get to play mommy if I ever ended up with a kid."

"Well, yes, I suppose there is that."

Gojyo laughed and slung his arm across Hakkai's shoulders, careful not to dislodge Hakuryu as they headed off together toward the gate.

* * *

That night, Gojyo lay face down on his bedding with a pack of cigarettes and his lighter on the ground in front of him, utterly exhausted but unable to sleep. Hiking through the woods for half the day, even on a trail, wasn't exactly the most smoker friendly activity. Sanzo hadn't seemed affected by it much, but Gojyo consoled himself with the knowledge that the damn monk didn't smoke quite as much as he did and probably hadn't been a chain smoker by the age of six.

He lit up a cigarette, relaxing minutely as the nicotine began working through his system. Despite walking being a bitch, he was glad they hadn't been able to ride in Hakuryu's jeep form. It made his ass hurt even when he hadn't spent a night with a woman with a whip and a strap-on.

He shivered slightly, thinking of the night before. He was sore and the whip welts across his back and shallow cuts along his inner thighs hurt like hell, but it had been so worth it. Good dominatrixes were few are far between in his experience – he usually ended up with soft, submissive girls or bitches who just liked hurting people – but Reishu had expertly walked the line between pleasure and pain.

He shivered again, but this time in something close to dread as his memories of being bound to Reishu's bed changed. Vague images of a silver-haired woman flickered through his mind. He frowned. He didn't know any silver-haired women. What-

"Shit," he cursed softly, noticing how thick the shadows around him were. Another damn shadow youkai. Did he have a fucking sign on his forehead that said "eat me; I'm yummy" or something?

He opened his mouth to yell and wake up the others, his half-smoked cigarette falling to the ground, but a band of shadow shot up from the ground and looped around his head, covering his mouth. His wrists were bound together and two more tendrils of shadow rose up, wrapping around his waist and ankles.

He struggled and fought, but was unable to break free as he was dragged down into Shadowed Ways.

* * *

Goku blinked sleepily and sat up, frowning faintly as he tried to figure out what had woken him up. Gojyo's sleeping area seemed completely empty. He rubbed his eyes and blinked again. He could see the kappa's bedding now, but not the kappa himself.

_He's probably goin' to th' bathroom,_ he thought, yawning. He snuggled back down, smiling as he dreamed of noodles and fried dumplings.


	12. Chapter 12

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter Twelve**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Author's Note:** Volume eight of the Saiyuki Reload manga shows how Gojyo and Goku got their weapons. It's extremely unlikely that that's how all of the youkai (or any of the youkai for that matter) in the series got their weapons, so I've decided that the normal way to get them is to either be taught to summon a weapon, or to have it appear in a time of need.

Also, as far as I know, Lirin's exact age is never specified. She's Gyumaoh's daughter, so she has to be over 500, but she would have been sealed away for most of that along with Kougaiji and the others in the castle. Based on both her physical development and her personality, I'm going to assume she's somewhere between twelve and fourteen (I personally hit puberty and had largish breasts at the age of ten, so twelve isn't that farfetched).

* * *

All was dark and quiet as Meihan climbed down from her assigned tree house. She hurried toward the pond, hot, angry tears sliding down her cheeks. She hated this place, and she was going home as soon as the stupid comet went past.

So what if she chose to think of herself as human? It didn't hurt anyone, and the other girls in the tree house had no right to yank her dyed hair and call her nasty names. At least she was willing to live out in the real world, not hidden away in some stupid little village.

She dropped to her knees beside the pond and glared at the reflection just visible in the dark water. A pale echo of angry red eyes glared back up at her as she focused on the roots of her hair.

She thrust her hands into the water, pulling up slimy chunks of dark mud. Before she could run it through her hair, she sobbed and dropped it back into the pond.

_The little girl puts the final touches on her mud castle, looking up from her creation as a youkai man laughs and joins her in the shallows of the river._

_"You've got mud in your hair, Red," the youkai says, kneeling beside her and running his hand through the mud-streaked locks._

_She giggles and hugs her father, feeling safe and happy. She doesn't know that within a week, he will be murdered, and she and her mother beaten, by a group of youkai who blame the recent poor harvests on the presence of a child of taboo._

Meihan sniffed and staggered up to her feet, wiping at her eyes. Her father had been a fairly low level youkai, his massive physical strength the only real difference between him and a human. He hadn't stood a chance when the other youkai had turned against him.

She turned to head back to the tree house and immediately dropped to the ground, pressing her hands against the middle of her head in an attempt to keep the bright red roots from betraying her position.

The cute guy who had flirted with her had appeared out of nowhere with a silver-haired youkai woman. He was barefoot, and his jacket and headband were missing.

Gojyo and the woman went into the nursery building. There was a deep, masculine yell and a brief commotion, both abruptly and eerily silenced.

Meihan cautiously got to her feet and darted to the building, slipping quietly through the play area. She stayed hidden in the shadows as she peered around the edge of the curtain dividing the sleep area from the playroom.

All of the children, plus the woman who had been keeping watch over them for the night, had their mouths covered and wrists bound by some sort of black stuff. For some reason, Gojyo was just standing there, holding a metal, bladed staff but not bothering to do anything to help the kids.

Meihan had to cover her mouth to keep from gasping when she noticed the blood on the shaft of his weapon. She looked around wildly, finally seeing the dark-haired youkai man on the floor, a small pool of blood near his head. She didn't particularly like youkai, but the man had seemed nice.

The silver-haired woman made a gesture with her hand, catching Meihan's attention again, and the strange black bonds pulled the children and their caretaker towards the youkai woman. Taking advantage of the fact that her legs were free, the adult half-breed sprinted forward and attacked, knocking the youkai to the ground with a vicious kick.

"That wasn't a smart move," the youkai hissed, slowly getting to her feet. Black tendrils rose from the ground and wrapped around the redhead, immobilizing her. "I'm not going to waste anymore of my energy on you. Gojyo, kill her."

Gojyo moved toward the bound woman and raised his weapon, the crescent blade pointed at her. He hesitated for a moment, just long enough for Meihan to spring into action.

The teenager rushed forward and flung herself between Gojyo and his intended victim, unsure of what she could do besides get killed as well, but unable to just watch as someone was murdered. She closed her eyes and raised her hands in an instinctive effort to defend herself, nearly falling as her energy levels suddenly plummeted.

_Clang!_

Meihan opened her eyes and stared at her hands in shock. She was now wearing a pair of jointed, metal gauntlets.

_Where did...?_ she thought, blinking in confusion. She didn't have time to dwell on it. She curled one hand, gathered the last of her energy, and slammed her gauntleted fist into Gojyo's gut.

"Ooof!" He doubled over and dropped to his knees. "Wha…what's going on?" He glanced around, his look of bewilderment swiftly replaced by anger and worry. "Meihan, get out of here, no-"

He stopped in mid-word, his eyes and expression going blank. Before he could do anything else, there was a commotion from the doorway. Reishu tore through the curtain, immediately summoning and throwing her knife at the youkai woman.

"I don't have time for this," the youkai hissed in annoyance, easily deflecting the blade with a patch of darkness.

The knife vanished and reappeared in Reishu's hand, but before she could attack again, part of the floor turned pitch black.

Meihan, and most of the children, screamed as they plunged into the Shadowed Ways.

* * *

Somewhere in the mountains, Lirin stretched and yawned. She rubbed her eyes and blinked up at the sky, pouting as she realized it was a couple of hours before dawn. She'd only meant to take a short nap, not waste the entire night.

It wouldn't be long at all before Yaone realized she'd stuffed pillows under her blankets before taking off with one of the long-distance dragons. Then Yaone'd go and tattle to Big Brother, and they'd come after her.

Lirin scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. She'd barely have enough time to find Doku and the little kid, and none at all to play with Sanzo and the others.

The dragon beside her suddenly tensed and made a small sound. The girl glanced at him, then, following the direction of his gaze, peered over the edge of the roomy cliff she'd chosen to nap on. A youkai woman was down on a much larger cliff with a bunch of little kids, a teenager, a woman, and Doku's little brother.

Lirin cocked her head, the tip of her tongue poking out from between her lips as she tried to figure out what was going on._ I bet she's using all them little redheads as hostages so he'll do what she wants,_ she thought.

Doku was like another brother to her, and Gojyo was his little brother. That made him sort of like her brother too, so she figured she should help him. Plus, if she rescued him, Baldy Sanzo would be so happy, he might just give her the sutra. Or maybe even a meat bun!

"Hee! Little Lirin to the rescue!" she yelled, leaping down the sloped cliff face as the youkai woman led her group of half-breeds into a cave.

* * *

He follows Her, leaving the darkness of night for the deeper tenebrosity of a cave. The air feels thick and heavy against the bare skin of his face and arms, like he's moving through the liquid reality of a dream.

_A nightmare…_ a small part of him whispers in despair. A ripple of unease washes through him, dissipating before it can be fully realized. How can anything be wrong when She is near?

Something rushes into the cave, flinging itself at Her. Her silent command vibrates through him, relayed by the venom flowing through his veins with his blood. She wants the thing dead. She wants him to kill it.

He holds out his arm, and the firm, cool shaft of his shakujou fills his hand, thrumming with the barely contained eagerness to cause mayhem. He swings it, the subtle flexing and movement of his wrist sending the chain out, his thoughts gliding through the shimmering links with just enough power to guide the arc of the deadly crescent.

The chain wraps around the thing that dared to attack Her, the crescent blade embedding in the cave wall and pulling the chain tight enough to trap the creature. He flips the weapon, preparing to drive the blunter, but still deadly, end into its body.

The thing_… child…_ stares at him, its_… her…_ eyes full of fear and confusion. A kid. She's just a kid. No younger than twelve, but no older than fourteen. The child doesn't understand why he wants to hurt her. Doesn't know what she's done wrong.

His hands begin to shake, and he drops the shakujou. He can't kill her. He has to kill her, because She demands it. But he can't do it. He can't kill the girl. He _must_ obey. He can't hurt an innocent little kid.

He screams in agony, clutching his head as he falls to his knees. Everything fades away as he spins out of control within his own mind, plummeting toward a clear pond beneath a sakura tree.

* * *

Sanyin stared incredulously as Gojyo screamed and crumpled to the ground, barely noticing as the brat who had attacked her escaped. Her attention was all on the man who should have been under her complete control.

_I don't have time to deal with this,_ she thought in irritation, approaching and nudging him with her foot.

She glanced at her captives. Even with all of the energy she'd expended in transporting so many through the Shadowed Ways, a mouthful of blood from each of them would provide more than enough energy to overthrow the current leader of her clan.

She smiled and licked her lips as she slowly approached the frightened children. She would make her move right after dawn, which would give her plenty of time to… play… with her food.

* * *

_He laughs, dancing through a world where the rivers are chocolate and giant dumpling boulders cover the gently swaying noodle grass. He jumps onto one of the boulders, wrapping his arms around it and sinking his teeth into its softness just as he feels a sharp pain in his side…_

_"Wake up, monkey!"_

"Mrglgmf!" Goku yelled around his pillow, sitting up and rubbing the spot where Sanzo had kicked him. He didn't know what the blond was so crabby about, but that had really hurt!

Goku stopped biting his pillow and looked around with a small frown. Not only was Sanzo grumpier than usual, Hakkai looked upset, and Gojyo was nowhere to be seen. Goku's mouth suddenly went dry with worry. He remembered the last time the stupid kappa had gone missing. Sanzo had gotten really angry, and Hakkai had been scary.

"Gojyo's gone off to pee or somethin', right?" he asked, laughing nervously. He knew that wasn't what had happened. Sanzo and Hakkai wouldn't be in bad moods if Gojyo had just wandered off to take a leak.

He couldn't figure out where he would have gone to, though. There was nothing they were leaving unfinished, and the Village of Taboo didn't really seem like the kind of place Gojyo would decide to stay. There were a handful of women with no men around, but there weren't any bars.

"I'm afraid not, Goku," Hakkai said, his voice eerily neutral despite the warm smile he put on for the boy's benefit. He turned towards Sanzo. "I suppose we will be going on without him?"

"No," Sanzo said, glaring at Gojyo's empty sleeping spot with narrowed eyes. "I remember how annoying you two got the last time your pet kappa disappeared. Besides, he didn't run off on his own this time."

Hakkai sucked in a sharp breath. "You think…"

Sanzo nodded and strode over to Gojyo's blankets, reaching down for something. "I don't care if some jackass psycho came out of nowhere and slaughtered a whole herd of innocent little brats right in front of him; Gojyo is a chain smoker, and there's no way in hell he'd willingly go anywhere without these," he said grimly, holding up a pack of Hi-Lites. "Which can mean only one thing. Someone has stolen our pervert."


	13. Chapter 13

**The Taste of Crimson**

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.

**Author's Note:** Yume means dream in Japanese. For those who don't remember Shihi, she was the young woman in chapter nine who realized the boys were the Sanzo Party and ran off to tell some others.

­

* * *

_Everything spins crazily as he falls through the sky of his mental world, his form changing from adult to child as he hurtles down toward the pond under the sakura tree. He hits the water with a sound like breaking glass, and something within him shatters into countless jagged shards._

_He falls up through the air on the other side of the pond, strange images filling his mind as he drowns in someone else's life. He sees Hakkai and Sanzo, their hair long, and their clothing strange. He sees Goku, younger and in chains._

_He argues with men he's never spoken too. Makes love to women he's never touched. Has deathless battles with beings he's never fought._

_He tries to deny the things he sees, fighting to hold on to his existence as everything that makes him Sha Gojyo is overwhelmed. He's never really liked who he is, but his identity is all he has, and he struggles fiercely to hold on to it._

_Something grabs him, stopping his upward plummet, and the foreign memories abruptly withdraw. Everything continues to spin in a blurry spiral as strong arms surround him, pulling him against a warm body._

_"It's okay, kid, I've got you," his own voice says softly. Then a hand is pressed against his forehead and everything fades away…._

* * *

Sanyin moved casually through the halls of the fortress, a human-shaped, shadow-wrapped bundle floating horizontally behind her. It wasn't unusual for members of her clan to bring prey back with them, either as a snack for later or as a gift to their leader, Kagemaoh.

She quietly slipped into the unused library that had become her informal base since discovering Heniao's activities. Once she closed the door, her shadow distorted slightly, the half-breeds she had captured rising up from it and then settling on the floor. Unlike the disturbance caused by using the Shadowed Ways, storing and retrieving things from one's own shadow couldn't be sensed by others of her kind.

Sanyin kept the half-breeds tranced long enough to leave the library, releasing her hold on their minds as she sealed the door with a thin layer of shadow. Then she made her way to the upper levels of the fortress, the shadow-wrapped bundle still floating behind her.

Kagemaoh met with the other high-level clan members every morning, usually leaving two men to guard his door. Sanyin's steps became hesitant as she approached them, and she carefully lowered her gaze.

"What do you want?" one of the guards asked.

"I-I have a gift for Kagemaoh," Sanyin stuttered softly. She licked her lips, adding to the illusion of nervousness. "I…want it to be waiting for him when he returns, as a surprise."

The other guard snorted. "And no doubt, you want to be there when he discovers the surprise, so he'll know who's responsible." He snorted again as Sanyin ducked her head and fidgeted. "Let's see this surprise."

He approached the bundle, and Sanyin removed enough of the shadow for him to see her captive's head. The guard whistled appreciatively. "That's definitely a pretty one. Go on in."

_Idiots,_ Sanyin thought in contempt as the first guard opened the door and let her in. She would have them replaced with more competent men once she ruled.

She found Kagemoah's bedroom easily enough, most of it taken up by a large bed with a black canopy and white sheets. She dissipated most of the shadow wrapping and efficiently stripped her captive down to his underwear before settling him into the bed, fanning his scarlet hair across one white silk pillow.

She lightly trailed her fingers across his cheek, wondering what exactly had happened. He had been injured at some point the day before, but it shouldn't have caused the problems she'd had controlling him. Only sharp, sudden pain interfered with the trance state, and his injuries certainly didn't explain why he was unconscious.

The only thing she could think of was that she must have commanded him to do something that went so completely against his nature that it had broken his mind, causing him to retreat from reality. It happened sometimes with stronger willed prey. In the long run, it didn't really matter. Food didn't require a functioning mind to be delectable, after all.

She walked to the back corner of the room and sat down. She wouldn't have long to wait.

* * *

Kagemaoh yawned as he headed toward his rooms, one pair of guards walking in front of him while another pair walked behind. With the other local youkai no longer getting in the way, his clan was able to feed well, but it also left them bored and prone to fighting amongst themselves. The daily meetings were exhausting, but had become necessary to remind the others of his power so they wouldn't challenge him.

He approached his rooms with a grateful sigh, barely noticing the familiar sight of his door guards bowing to him.

"Lord Kagemaoh," one of them said as he reached for the knob. "A lower-level woman brought you a gift. She's waiting inside with it."

An arrogant, lazy smile spread across Kagemaoh's face. "Is it a nice gift?"

"Quite," the guard assured him.

The leader of the clan chuckled softly. "In that case, perhaps I'll let the woman live. After punishing her for daring to enter my quarters uninvited, of course."

He slipped inside, leaving all of his guards outside the door, and immediately looked around. His guest wasn't in the main living area, and he doubted she would be waiting for him in his small library or the bathing chamber. The bedroom then.

The arrogant smile appeared again as he crossed the living area and flung open the door to his bedroom, a sheer layer of shadow covering him to protect him from any attacks. The woman in the corner prostrated before him, not making a sound as he casually tethered her in place with a cord of twined shadows.

Still standing in the doorway, he studied the gift she had brought. At first, the vibrant red hair made him think it was a child of taboo, but he quickly dismissed that thought. Everyone knew half-breed blood had the worst qualities of both human and youkai. No one would be foolish enough to bring him one.

He walked toward the bed and his gift, unaware of the fine filaments of shadow that rose up from the carpet with each step, merging with his protective shield. He barely noticed at first as the shield slowly grew tighter and tighter.

When he did notice, he began to scream, shrieks of agony that went unheard beyond the room and soon died away, leaving the silvery peals of Sanyin's delighted laughter as the only sound.

* * *

Meihan sat against one book-lined wall, hugging her knees tightly to her chest while hazy images flickered through her mind.

_The black tendrils hold her still as the silver-haired woman approaches. The youkai kneels beside her and pushes her hair away from her neck. Then the woman leans close and…._

Meihan barely held back a startled shriek as someone gently grabbed her shoulder.

"Ssh, it's okay," the half-breed woman who had also been captured said quietly, sitting down next to Meihan. "I was able to get the little ones to sleep. If we get a chance to escape later, it'd be best if they were rested."

Meihan glanced at the group of children curled up on the floor at the other side of the room. "Poor things will probably have nightmares," she muttered, shuddering slightly. At least most of them were too young to fully understand what had happened.

"No, they'll have good dreams," the woman said with quiet confidence. "I may not have the power to put fully active people to sleep and craft elaborate dream worlds for them, but I'm dream weaver enough to help tired children go to sleep and set the tone of their dreams."

"That's pretty cool. All I can seem to do is hit things," Meihan said, looking down at her gauntleted hands and flexing her fingers. She knew youkai could make their weapons vanish, but she had no idea how to do it. She didn't even really know how she'd made the gauntlets appear in the first place.

"Well, I, for one, am glad you can hit things. If you hadn't hit that man, I would have been killed. Thank you for that, Meihan." She smiled slightly at the girl's startled look. "You're the most recent teenager brought to the village. That makes it easy to know and remember your name. I'm Yume."

Meihan gave her an incredulous look, and Yume laughed. "Yes, I know. A half dream weaver named Yume isn't very original. Reishu gave me that name. She didn't think my original one suited me."

"What was your original name?" Meihan asked, careful to keep the disgust out of her voice. _Ugh. That certainly sounds like something Reishu would do. She thinks she's so high and mighty that she can just toss away other people's names. She probably had a really pretty na-_

"Trash," Yume said softly, breaking into Meihan's thoughts.

"Wha?" Meihan blinked at the woman stupidly, wondering what trash had to do with anything. Was she remembering some chore left undone or something?

"My mother thought I was trash, so that's what she named me. Lady Menyou found me when I was twelve and brought me to the village. Reishu was seventeen at the time and took me under her wing." She smiled faintly then patted Meihan on the shoulder. "You should try to get some sleep too. I know Reishu will come for us, and we need to be ready to escape.

* * *

Takaharu sat on a large rock, studying his maps and eating the rice balls his daughter had prepared while the men traveling with him took a much deserved lunch break. His girl, Shihi, had been disappointed to stay behind, but a journey to help the Sanzo Party destroy a murderous group of stinking youkai was no place for a young lady. She'd done well enough by telling them the monk and his devoted followers were on their way to the mountains.

They had made pretty good timing, setting out only six hours after Shihi had given them the news and riding fast donkeys along the local game trails. If they kept to their current pace, they'd reach the fortress of the shadow youkai by nightfall.

* * *

_Everything slowly comes back into focus, clear and no longer spinning. He's in a sakura tree, sitting on someone's lap with his head resting against the person's chest. He stays that way for a moment, listening to the soothing beat of a heart, before reluctantly pushing away and taking a look at his savior._

_It's the dark-haired man from the other side of the pond. The one with his face. He shivers, remembering the feel of something breaking inside as he plunged through the pond._

_"What happened?" he asks._

_"That silver-haired bitch broke your mind. I fixed the damage, but there's nothing I can do about_ that_," the man says, looking down at the pond. "You broke through the barrier, kid."_

_He looks down and sees a jagged…blackness in the middle of the pond. The tranquil water gently laps at the edges but doesn't spill over._

_"What… what was the barrier for?" he asks, almost afraid to find out._

_"It separated my life from yours," the man says quietly. "If I hadn't stopped it, they would have merged, and you wouldn't exist anymore. There will be consequences for breaking the barrier, but you won't lose yourself."_

_"Who are you?"_

_The man flashes him an eerily familiar grin. It's the same one he sees sometimes in the mirror. "I'm Kenren."_

_He frowns. He knows that name. It's what the god Homura and his lackeys had called him. "You're me?"_

_"Nope. I'm not you; you're me," Kenren says, lightly tapping him on the nose. "You don't remember it, but you lived my life. I know everything that's happened in yours, but I didn't experience it."_

_Before he can even begin to process the man's words, Kenren gently grabs a lock of his hair and studies it, smiling faintly. "The color of wine and a woman's cheeks when she blushes." He sighs and releases the soft strands. "Red was always my favorite color, and I've always adored women. If figures both would be used to punish me."_

_He looks away and ducks his head, hiding behind his bangs. "Why am I always a kid in my head?" he mutters, trying to change the subject. _

_"Because no matter how tough they try to be, broken children can't grow up until someone fixes them," Kenren says, lifting his chin and forcing him to look into dark purple-black eyes filled with acceptance and rough sympathy. _

_He looks away. He wants to deny that he's broken, but he can't bring himself to lie. "I'm tired," he says instead. "So fuckin' tired."_

_"Your mind is still a little fragile right now," Kenren says quietly. "You should sleep for a bit."_

_"Can't," he mumbles, shaking his head. It's hazy, but he remembers something about children being in danger. He has to help them._

_"Don't worry, kid, I can handle things for you for about an hour or so."_

_"But-"_

_"Sshh. It's okay. Sleep now," Kenren says._

_He's unable to fight the weariness any longer and slumps against the man, drifting off into a deep, healing sleep._

* * *

The man in the bed began to stir, slowly opening purple eyes that were so dark they almost looked black. He got up and stepped over a crushed…_thing_ on the floor.

_Poor bastard,_ he thought, shuddering in disgust. Then he looked down at himself and noticed his clothing, or rather, his lack thereof.

"Okay, Gojyo's got bitchin' taste in underwear, but there's no way in _hell_ I'm pulling off a rescue in nothing but a thong," Kenren muttered. He smirked and cracked his knuckles. "The general does his ass kicking in leather."


End file.
